ma 


SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION IJUltKAU  OF  ETHNOLOGY 


INTRODUCTION 


TO   TLII". 


STUDY  OF  SIGN  LANGUAGE 


AMONG   THE 


NORTH  AMERICAN  INDIANS 


ILLUSTRATING  THE  GESTURE  SPEECH  OF  MANKIND 


Uo 


By    GARRICK    MALLERY 

BRF.VET   LIEUT.   C()L.,    U.   S.    AKMY 

1. 1  H  K  A  a  i 

I  UNJVEKSITV   OF 

I,  CALIFORNIA.  J 

WASHINGTON 

"GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 

18  SO 


i-it 


/ 


SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION, 

BUREAU  OF  ETHNOLOGY, 
Washington,  I).  C.,  February  12,  1880. 

Eleven  years  ago  ethnographic  research  among  North  American 
Indians  was  commenced  by  myself  and  my  assistants  while  making  explo 
rations  on  the  Colorado  River  and  its  tributaries.  From  that  time  to  the 
present  such  investigations  have  been  in  progress. 

During  this  time  the  Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  placed 
iri  my  hands  a  large  amount  of  material  collected  by  its  collaborators 
relating  to  Indian  languages  and  other  matters,  to  be  used,  in  conjunction 
with  the  materials  collected  under  my  direction,  in  the  preparation  of  a 
series  of  publications  on  North  American  Ethnology.  In  pursuing-  this  work 
two  volumes  have  already  been  published,  a  third  is  in  press,  and  a  number 
of  others  are  in  course  of  preparation. 

The  work  originally  begun  as  an  incident  to  a  geographical  and  geo 
logical  survey  has  steadily  grown  in  proportions  until  a  large  number  of 
assistants  and  collaborators  are  engaged  in  the  collection  of  materials  and 
the  preparation  of  memoirs  on  a  variety  of  subjects  relating  to  the  North 
American  Indians.  The  subject  under  investigation  is  of  great  magnitude. 
More  than  five  hundred  languages,  ^belonging  to  about  seventy  distinct 
stocks  or  families,  are  spoken  by  these  Indians ;  and  in  all  other  branches 
of  this  ethnic  research  a  like  variety  of  subject-matter  exists.  It  will  thus 
be  seen  that  the  materials  for  a  systematic  and  comprehensive  treatment  of 
this  subject  can  only  be  obtained  by  the  combined  labor  of  many  men.  My 
experience  has  demonstrated  that  a  deep  interest  in  Anthropology  is  widely 
spread  among  the  educated  people  of  the  country,  as  from  every  hand 
assistance  is  tendered,  and  thus  valuable  material  is  steadily  accumulating; 
but  experience  has  also  demonstrated  that  much  effort  is  lost  for  want  of  a 


HI 


IV 

proper  comprehension  of  the  subjects  and  methods  of  investigation  apper 
taining  to  this  branch  of  scientific  research.  For  this  reason  a  series  of 
pamphlet  publications,  designed  to  give  assistance-  and  direction  in  these 
investigations,  has  been  commenced. 

The  first  of  the  series  was  prepared  by  myself  and  issued  under  the 
title  of  " Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Indian  Languages;"  the  second  is 
the  present,  upon  Sign-Language  ;  and  a  third,  by  Dr.  II.  0.  Yarrow,  United 
States  Army,  designed  to  incite  inquiry  into  mortuary  observances  and 
beliefs  concerning  the  dead  prevailing  among  the  Indian  tribes,  will  shortly 
be  issued.  Other  publications  of  a  like  character  will  be  prepared  from 
time  to  time.  These  publications  are  intended  to  serve  a  somewhat  tempo 
rary  purpose  until  a  manual  for  the  use  of  students  of  American  Anthro 
pology  is  completed. 

J.  W.  POWELL. 


L  I  H  U  A  K  Y 

I'N  I  V  Kits  IT  V    OF 

CAUKOKXIA. 

V 

INQUIRIES   AND   SUGGESTIONS 


UPON 


SIGN-LANGUAGE  AMONG  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 


BY  GARRICK  MALLERY. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

The  Bureau  of  Ethnology  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  has  in  prep 
aration  a  work  upon  Sign-Language  among  the  North  American  Indians, 
and,  further,  intended  to  be  an  exposition  of  the  gesture-speech  of  mankind 
thorough  enough  to  be  of  suggestive  use  to  students  of  philology  and  of 
anthropology  in  general.  The  present  paper  is  intended  to  indicate  the 
scope  of  that  future  publication,  to  excite  interest  and  invite  correspond 
ence  on  the  subject,  to  submit  suggestions  as  to  desirable  points  and  modes 
of  observation,  and  to  give  notice  of  some  facilities  provided  for  descrip 
tion  and  illustration. 

The  material  now  collected  and  collated  is  sufficient  to  show  that  the 
importance  of  the  subject  deserves  exhaustive  research  and  presentation  by 
scientific  methods  instead  of  being  confined  to  the  fragmentary,  indefinite, 
and  incidental  publications  thus  far  made,  which  have  never  yet  been  united 
for  comparison,  and  are  most  of  them  difficult  of  access.  Many  of  the 
descriptions  given  in  the  lists  of  earlier  date  than  those  contributed  during 
the  past  year  in  response  to  special  request  are  too  curt  and  incomplete  to 
assure  the  perfect  reproduction  of  the  sign  intended,  while  in  others  the 
very  idea  or  object  of  the  sign  is  loosely  expressed,  so  that  for  thorough 
and  satisfactory  exposition  they  require  to  be  both  corrected  and  supple 
mented,  and  therefore  the  cooperation  of  competent  observers,  to  whom 

1  S  L 


2  OBJECT  OF  THE   PRESENT  WOHK. 

this  pamphlet  is  addressed,  and  to  whom  it  will  be    mailed,  is  urgently 
requested. 

The  publication  will  mainly  consist  of  a  collation,  in  the  form  of  a 
vocabulary,  of  all  authentic  signs,  including  signals  made  at  a  distance,  with 
their  description,  as  also  that  of  any  specially  associated  facial  expression, 
set  forth  in  language  intended  to  be  so  clear,  illustrations  being  added  when 
necessary,  that  they  can  be  reproduced  by  the  reader.  The  descriptions  con 
tributed,  as  also  the  explanation  or  conception  occurring  to  or  ascertained 
by  the  contributors,  will  be  given  in  their  own  words,  with  their  own  illus 
trations  when  furnished  or  when  they  can  be  designed  from  written  descrip 
tions,  and  always  with  individual  credit  as  well  as  responsibility.  The  signs 
arranged  in  the  vocabulary  will  be  compared  in  their  order  with  those  of 
deaf-mutes,  with  those  of  foreign  tribes  of  men,  whether  ancient  or  modern, 
and  with  the  suggested  radicals  of  languages,  for  assistance  in  which  com 
parisons  travelers'  and  scholars  are  solicited  to  contribute  in  the  same 
manner  and  with  the  same  credit  above  mentioned.  The  deductions  and 
generalizations  of  the  editor  of  the  work  will  be  separate  from  this  vocabu 
lary,  though  based  upon  it,  and  some  of  those  expressed  in  this  preliminary 
paper  may  be  modified  on  full  information,  as  there  is  no  conscious  desire 
to  maintain  any  preconceived  theories.  Intelligent  criticisms  will  be  grate 
fully  received,  considered,  and  given  honorable  place. 

PRACTICAL  VALUE  OF  SKIN-LANG  I'AGE. 

The  most  obvious  application  of  Indian  sign-language  will  for  its 
practical  utility  depend,  to  a  large  extent,  upon  the  correctness  of  the  view 
submitted  by  the  present  writer,  in  opposition  to  an  opinion  generally 
entertained,  that  it  is  not  a  mere  semaphoric  repetition  of  traditional  sig 
nals,  whether  or  not  purely  arbitrary  in  their  origin,  but  is  a  cultivated 
art,  founded  upon  principles  which  can  be  readily  applied  by  travelers  and 
officials  so  as  to  give  them  much  independence  of  professional  interpreters— 
a  class  dangerously  deceitful  and  tricky.  Possessing  this  art,  as  distin 
guished  from  a  limited  list  of  memorized  motions,  they  would  accomplish 
for  themselves  the  desire  of  the  Prince  of  Pontus,  who  begged  of  Nero  an 
accomplished  pantomimist  from  the  Roman  theater,  to  interpret  among  his 


PRACTICAL  VALUE  OF  SIGN-LANGUAGE.  3 

many-tongued  subjects.  This  advantage  is  not  merely  theoretical,  but  has 
been  demonstrated  to  be  practical  by  a  professor  in  a  deaf-mute  college 
who,  lately  visiting  several  of  the  wild  tribes  of  the  plains,  made  himself 
understood  among  all  of  them  without  knowing  a  word  of  any  of  their 
languages ;  nor  would  it  only  obtain  in  connection  with  American  tribes, 
being  applicable  to  intercourse  witli  savages  in  Africa  and  Asia,  though  it 
is  not  pretended  to  fulfill  by  this  agency  the  schoolmen's  dream  of  an  oecu 
menical  mode  of  communication  between  all  peoples  in  spite  of  their  dia 
lectic  divisions. 

Sign-language,  being  the  mother  utterance  of  nature,  poetically  styled 
by  LAMARTINE  the  visible  attitudes  of  the  soul,  is  superior  to  all  others  in 
that  it  permits  every  one  to  find  in  nature  an  image  to  express  his  thoughts 
on  the  most  needful  matters  intelligently  to  any  other  person,  though  it- 
must  ever  henceforth  be  inferior  in  the  power  of  formulating  thoughts  now 
attained  by  words,  notwithstanding  the  boast  of  Roscius  that  he  could 
convey  more  varieties  of  sentiment  by  gesture  alone  than  Cicero  could  in 
oratory. 

It  is  true  that  gestures  excel  in  graphic  and  dramatic  effect  applied  to 
narrative  and  to  rhetorical  exhibition;  but  speech,  when  highly  cultivated, 
is  better  adapted  to  generalization  and  abstraction ;  therefore  to  logic  and 
metaphysics.  Some  of  the  enthusiasts  in  signs  have,  however,  contended 
that  this  unfavorable  distinction  is  not  from  any  inherent  incapability, 
but  because  their  employment  has  not  been  continued  unto  perfection,  and 
that  if  they  had  been  elaborated  by  the  secular  labor  devoted  to  spoken 
language  they  might  in  resources  and  distinctness  have  exceeded  many 
forms  of  the  latter.  GALLAUDET,  PEET,  and  others  may  be  right  in  assert 
ing  that  man  could  by  his  arms,  hands,  and  fingers,  with  facial  and  bodily 
accentuation,  express  any  idea  that  could  be  conveyed  by  words.  The  pro 
cess  regarding  abstract  ideas  is  only  a  variant  from  that  of  oral  speech,  in 
which  the  words  for  the  most  abstract  ideas,  such  as  law,  virtue,  infinitude, 
and  immortality,  arc  shown  by  MAX  MULLER  to  have  been  derived  and 
deduced,  that  is,  abstracted  from  sensuous  impressions.  In  the  use  of 
signs  the  countenance  and  manner  as  well  as  the  tenor  decide  whether 
objects  themselves  are  intended,  or  the  forms,  positions,  qualities,  and 
motions  of  other  objects  which  are  suggested,  and  signs  for  moral  and 


4  AID  TO  DECIPHER  riCTOGRAPIIS. 

intellectual  ideas,  founded  on  analogies,  are  common  all  over  the  world  as 
well  as  among  deaf-mutes.  Concepts  of  the  intangible  and  invisible  are 
only  learned  through  percepts  of  tangible  and  visible  objects,  whether 
finally  expressed  to  the  eye  or  to  the  ear,  in  terms  of  sight  or  of  sound. 

It  will  be  admitted  that  the  elements  of  the  sign-language  are  truly 
natural  and  universal,  I)}-  recurring  to  which  the  less  natural  signs  adopted 
dialectically  or  for  expedition  can,  with  perhaps  some  circumlocution,  be 
explained.  This  power  of  interpreting  itself  is  a  peculiar  advantage,  for 
spoken  languages,  unless  explained  by  gestures  or  indications,  can  only  be 
interpreted  by  means  of  some  other  spoken  language.  There  is  another 
characteristic  of  the  gesture-speech  that,  though  it  cannot  be  resorted  to  in 
the  dark,  nor  where  the  attention  of  the  person  addressed  lias  not  been 
otherwise  attracted,  it  lias  the  countervailing  benefit  of  use  when  the  voice 
could  not  be  employed.  When  highly  cultivated  its  rapidity  on  familiar 
subjects  exceeds  that  of  speech  and  approaches  to  that  of  thought  itself. 
This  statement  may  be  startling  to  those  who  only  notice  that  a  selected 
spoken  word  may  convey  in  an  instant  a  meaning  lor  which  the  motions  of 
even  an  expert  in  signs  may  require  a  much  longer  time,  but  it  must  be 
considered  that  oral  speech  is  now  wholly  conventional,  and  that  with  the 
similar  development  of  sign-language  conventional  expressions  with  hands 
and  body  could  be  made  more  quickly  than  with  the  vocal  organs,  because 
more  organs  could  be  worked  at  once.  Without  such  supposed  develop 
ment  the  habitual  communication  between  deaf-mutes  and  among  Indians 
nsing  signs  is  perhaps  as  rapid  as  between  the  ignorant  class  of  speakers 
npon  the  same  subjects,  and  in  many  instances  the  signs  would  win  at  a 
trial  of  speed. 

Apart  from  their  practical  value  for  use  with  living  members  of  the 
tribes,  our  native  semiotics  will  surely  help  the  archaeologist  in  his  study 
of  native  picture-writing,  the  sole  form  of  aboriginal  records,  for  it  was  but 
one  more  step  to  fasten  upon  bark,  skins,  or  rocks  the  evanescent  air-pictures 
that  still  in  pigments  or  carvings  preserve  their  skeleton  outline,  and  in 
their  ideography  approach  the  rudiments  of  a  phonetic  alphabet.  Gesture- 
language  is,  in  fact,  not  only  a  picture-language,  but  is  actual  writing, 
though  dissolving  and  sympathetic,  and  neither  alphabetic  nor  phonetic. 


THE  SYNTAX  OF  SIGNS.  5 

Though  written  characters  are  in  our  minds  associated  witli  speech,  they 
are  shown,  by  successful  employment  in  hieroglyphs  and  by  educated 
deaf-mutes,  to  be  representative  of  ideas  without  the  intervention  of  sounds, 
and  so  also  are  the  outlines  of  signs.  This  will  be  more  apparent  if  the 
motions  expressing  the  most  prominent  feature,  attribute,  or  function  of 
an  object  are  made,  or  supposed  to  be  made,  so  as  to  leave  a  luminous 
track  impressible  to  the  eye,  separate  from  the  members  producing  it.  The 
actual  result  is  an  immateriate  graphic  representation  of  visible  objects  and 
qualities  which,  invested  with  substance,  has  become  familiar  to  us  as  the 
rcltts,  and  also  appears  in  the  form  of  heraldic  blazonry  styled  punning 
or  "canting."  The  reproduction  of  gesture-lines  in  the  pictographs  made 
by  our  Indians  seems  to  have  been  most  frequent  in  the  attempt  to  con 
vey  those  subjective  ideas  which  were  beyond  the  range  of  an  artistic  skill 
limited  to  the  direct  representation  of  objects,  so  that  the  part  of  the  picto 
graphs,  which  is  still  the  most  difficult  of  interpretation,  is  precisely  the 
one  which  the  study  of  sign-language  is  likely  to  eludicate.  In  this  con 
nection  it  may  be  mentioned  that  a  most  interesting  result  has  been  obtained 
in  the  tentative  comparison  so  far  made  between  the  gesture-signs  of  our 
Indians  and  some  of  the  characters  in  the  Chinese,  Assyrian,  Mexican,  and 
Runic  alphabets  or  syllabaries,  and  also  with  Egyptian  hieroglyphs. 

While  the  gesture-utterance  presents  no  other  part  of  grammar  to  the 
philologist  besides  syntax,  or  the  grouping  and  sequence  of  its  ideographic 
pictures,  the  arrangement  of  signs  when  in  connected  succession  affords 
an  interesting  comparison  with  the  early  syntax  of  vocal  language,  and 
the  analysis  of  their  original  conceptions,  studied  together  with  the  holo- 
phrastic  roots  in  the  speech  of  the  gesturers,  may  aid  to  ascertain  some 
relation  between  concrete  ideas  and  words.  Meaning  does  not  adhere 
to  the  phonetic  presentation  of  thought,  while  it  does  to  signs.  The 
latter  are  doubtless  more  flexible  and  in  that  sense  more  mutable  than 
words,  but  the  ideas  attached  to  them  are  persistent,  and  therefore  there 
is  not  much  greater  metamorphosis  in  the  signs  than  in  the  cognitions. 
The  further  a  language  has  been  developed  from  its  primordial  roots, 
which  have  been  twisted  into  forms  no  longer  suggesting  any  reason 
for  their  original  selection,  and  the  more  the  primitive  significance  of 


(5  AID  TO  AMERICAN  LINGUISTICS. 

its  words  has  disappeared,  the  fewer  points  of  contact  can  it  retain  with 
signs.  The  higher  languages  are  more  precise  because  the  conscious 
ness  of  the  derivation  of  most  of  their  words  is  lost,  so  that  they  have 
become  counters,  good  for  any  sense  agreed  upon  ;  but  in  our  native  dia 
lects,  which  have  not  advanced  in  that  direction  to  the  degree  exhibited  by 
those  of  civilized  man,  the  connection  between  the  idea,  and  the  word  is 
only  less  obvious  than  that  still  unbroken  between  the  idea  and  the 
sign,  and  they  remain  strongly  affected  by  the  concepts  of  outline,  form, 
place,  position,  and  feature  on  which  gesture  is  founded,  while  they  are 
similar  in  their  fertile  combination  of  radicals.  For  these  reasons  the  forms 
of  sign-language  adopted  by  our  Indians  will  be  of  special  value  to  the 
student  of  American  linguistics. 

A  comparison  sometimes  drawn  between  sign-language  and  that  of 
our  Indians,  founded  on  the  statement  of  their  common  poverty  in  abstract 
expressions,  is  not  just  to  either.  Allusion  has  before  been  made  to  the 
capacities  of  the  gesture-speech  in  that  regard,  and  a  deeper  study  into 
Indian  tongues  has  shown  that  they  are  by  no  means  so  confined  to  the  con 
crete  as  was  once  believed. 

Indian  language  consists  of  a  series  of  words  that  are  but  slightly  differ 
entiated  parts  of  speech  following  eacli  other  in  the  order  suggested  in  the 
mind  of  the  speaker  without  absolute  laws  of  arrangement,  as  its  sentences 
are  not  completely  integrated.  The  sentence  necessitates  parts  of  speech, 
and  parts  of  speech  are  possible  only  when  a  language  has  reached  that 
stage  where  sentences  are  logically  constructed.  The  words  of  an  Indian 
tongue  being  synthetic  or  undifferentiated  parts  of  speech,  are  in  this  respect 
strictly  analogous  to  the  gesture  elements  which  enter  into  a  sign-language. 
The  study  of  the  latter  is  therefore  valuable  for  comparison  with  the  words 
of  the  speech.  The  one  language  throws  much  light  upon  the  other,  and 
neither  can  be  studied  to  the  best  advantage  without  a  knowledge  of  the 

other. 

OKIGIN  AND  EXTENT  OF  GESTURE-SPEECH. 

It  is  an  accepted  maxim  that  nothing  is  thoroughly  understood  unless 
its  beginning  is  known.  While  this  can  never  be  absolutely  accomplished 
for  sign-language,  it  may  be  traced  to,  and  claims  gen  jral  interest  from, 


OEIG1X  AND  EXTENT  OF  GESTUEE-SPEECH.  7 

its  illustration  of  the  ancient  intercommunication  of  mankind  by  gesture. 
Many  arguments  have  been  adduced  and  more  may  be  presented  to  prove 
that  the  latter  preceded  articulate  speech.  The  corporeal  movements  of 
the  lower  animals  to  express,  at  least,  emotion  have  been  correlated  with 
those  of  man,  and  classified  by  DARWIN  as  explicable  on  the  principles  of 
serviceable  associated  habits,  of  antithesis,  and  of  the  constitution  of  the 
nervous  system.  A  child  employs  intelligent  gestures  long  in  advance  of 
speech,  although  very  early  and  persistent  attempts  are  made  to  give  it 
instruction  in  the  latter  but  none  in  the  former;  it  learns  language  only 
through  the  medium  of  signs  ;  and  long  after  familiarity  with  .speech,  consults 
the  gestures  and  facial  expressions  of  its  parents  and  nurses  as  if  to  trans 
late  or  explain  their  words ;  which  facts  are  important  in  reference  to  the 
biologic  law  that  the  order  of  development  of  the  individual  is  the  same  as 
tha't  of  the  species.  Persons  of  limited  vocabulary,  whether  foreigners  to 
the  tongue  employed,  or  native,  but  not  accomplished  in  its  use,  even  in 
the  midst  of  a  civilization  where  gestures  are  deprecated,  when  at  fault  for 
words  resort  instinctively  to  physical  motions  that  are  not  wild  nor  mean 
ingless,  but  picturesque  and  significant,  though  perhaps  made  by  the  ges- 
turer  for  the  first  time  ;  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  most  fluent  talkers  on 
occasions  when  the  exact  vocal  formula  desired  does  not  at  once  suggest  itself, 
or  is  not  satisfactory  without  assistance  from  the  physical  machinery  not 
embraced  in  the  oral  apparatus.  Further  evidence  of  the  unconscious  sur 
vival  of  gesture-language  is  afforded  by  the  ready  and  involuntary  response 
made  in  signs  to  signs  when  a  man  with  the  speech  and  habits  of  civiliza 
tion  is  brought  into  close  contact  with  Indians  or  deaf-mutes.  Without 
having  ever  before  seen  or  made  one  of  their  signs  he  will  soon  not  only 
catch  the  meaning  of  theirs,  but  produce  his  own,  which  they  will  likewise 
comprehend,  the  power  seemingly  remaining  latent  in  him  until  called  forth 
by  necessity.  The  signs  used  by  iininstructed  congenital  deaf-mutes  and 
the  facial  expressions  and  gestures  of  the  congenitally  blind  also  present 
considerations  under  the  heads  of  "heredity"  and  "atavism,"  of  some  weight 
when  the  subjects  are  descended  from  and  dwell  among  people  who  had 
disused  gestures  for  generations,  but  of  less  consequence  in  cases  such  as 
that  mentioned  by  Cardinal  WISEMAN  of  an  Italian  blind  man  who,  curiously 


8  ARGUMENTS  FOR  PRIORITY  OF  GESTURE. 

enough,  used  the  precise  signs  made  by  his  neighbors.  It  is  further 
asserted  that  semi-idiotic  children  who  cannot  be  taught  more  than  the 
merest  rudiments  of  speech  can  receive  a  considerable  amount  of  knowledge 
through  signs  and  express  themselves  by  them,  and  that  sufferers  from 
aphasia  continue  to  use  appropriate  gestures  after  their  words  are  uncon 
trollable.  In  cases  where  men  have  been  long  in  solitary  confinement, 
been  abandoned,  or  otherwise  have  become  isolated  from  their  fellows,  they 
have  lost  speech  entirely,  in  which  they  required  to  be  reinstructed  through 
gestures  in  the  same  manner  that  missionaries,  explorers,  and  shipwrecked 
mariners  became  acquainted  with  tongues  before  unknown  to  civilization. 
These  facts  are  to  be  considered  in  connection  with  the  general  law  of  evo 
lution,  that  in  cases  of  degeneration  the  last  and  highest  acquirements  are 
lost  first. 

The  fact  that  the  deaf-mute  thinks  without  phonetic  expression  is  a 
stumbling-block  to  MAX  MIJLLER'S  ingenious  theory  of  primitive  speech,  to 
the  effect  that  man  had  a  creative  faculty  giving  to  each  conception,  as  it 
thrilled  through  his  brain  for  the  first  time,  a  special  phonetic  expression, 
which  faculty  became  extinct  when  its  necessity  ceased. 

In  conjecturing  the  first  attempts  of  man  or  his  hypothetical  ancestor 
at  the  expression  either  of  percepts  or  concepts,  it  is  diilicult  to  connect 
vocal  sounds  with  any  large  number  of  objects,  but  readily  conceivable 
that  there  should  have  been  resort,  next  to  actual  touch  (of  which  all  the 
senses  may  be  modifications)  to  suggest  the  characteristics  of  their  forms 
and  movements  to  the  eye — fully  exercised  before  the  tongue — so  soon  as 
the  arms  and  fingers  became  free  for  the  requisite  simulation  or  portrayal. 
There  is  no  distinction  between  pantomime  and  sign-language  except  that 
the  former  is  the  parent  of  the  latter,  which  is  more  abbreviated  and  less 
obvious.  Pantomime  acts  movements,  reproduces  forms  and  positions,  pre 
sents  pictures,  and  manifests  emotions  with  greater  realization  than  any 
other  mode  of  utterance.  It  may  readily  be  supposed  that  a  trogdolyte 
man  would  desire  to  communicate  the  finding  of  a  cave  in  the  vicinity  of  a 
pure  pool,  circled  with  soft  grass,  and  shaded  by  trees  bearing  edible  fruit. 
No  natural  sound  is  connected  with  any  of  those  objects,  but  the  position 
and  size  of  the  cave,  its  distance  and  direction,  the  water,  its  quality,  and 


GESTURE  ONCE  COPIOUS  BEYOND  WORDS.  9 

amount,  the  verdant  circling'  carpet,  and  the  kind  and  height  of  the  trees 
could  have  been  made  known  by  pantomime  in  the  days  of  the  mammoth, 
if  articulate  speech  had  not  then  been  established,  precisely  as  Indians  or 
deaf-mutes  would  now  communicate  the  news  by  the  same  agency  or  by 
signs  possessing  a  natural  analogy. 

Independent  of  most  of  the  above  considerations,  but  from  their  own 
failures  and  discordancies,  linguistic  scholars  have  recently  decided  that 
both  the  "bow-wow"  and  the  "ding-dong'"  theories  are  unsatisfactory; 
that  the  search  for  imitative,  onomatopoetic,  and  directly  expressive  sounds 
to  explain  the  origin  of  human  speech  has  been  too  exclusive,  and  that  many 
primordial  roots  of  language  have  been  founded  in  the  involuntary  sounds 
accompanying  certain  actions.  As,  however,  the  action  was  the  essential, 
and  the  consequent  or  concomitant  sound  the  accident,  it  would  be  expected 
that  a  representation  or  feigned  reproduction  of  the  action  would  have  been 
vised  to  express  the  idea  before  the  sound  associated  with  that  action  could 
have  been  separated  from  it.  The  visual  onomato'pooia  of  gestures,  which 
even  yet  have  been  subjected  to  but  slight  artificial  corruption,  would 
therefore  serve  as  a  key  to  the  audible.  It  is  also  contended  that  in  the 
pristine  days,  when  the  sounds  of  the  only  words  yet  formed  had  close  con 
nection  with  objects  and  the  ideas  directly  derived  from  them,  signs  were 
as  much  more  copious  for  communication  than  speech  as  the  sight  embraces 
more  and  more  distinct  characteristics  of  objects  than  does  the  sense  of 
hearing. 

The  preponderance  of  authority  is  that  man,  when  in  the  possession  of 
all  his  faculties,  did  not  choose  between  voice  and  gesture,  both  being  orig 
inally  instinctive,  as  they  both  are  now,  and  never,  with  those  faculties,  was 
in  a  state  where  the  one  was  used  to  the  absolute  exclusion  of  the  other. 
With  the  voice  he  at  first  imitated  the  few  sounds  of  nature,  while  with  <res- 

'  o 

ture  he  exhibited  actions,  motions,  positions,  forms,  dimensions,  directions, 
and  distances,  and  their  derivatives.  It  would  appear  from  this  unequal  di 
vision  of  capacity  that  oral  speech  remained  rudimentary  long  after  ges 
ture  had  become  an  art.  With  the  concession  of  all  purely  imitative  sounds 
and  of  the  spontaneous  action  of  the  vocal  organs  under  excitement,  it  is 
still  true  that  the  connection  between  ideas  and  words  generally  depended 


10  MODERN  USB  OF  GESTURES  AND  SIGNS. 

upon  a  compact  between   the  speaker  and  hearer  which  presupposes  the 
existence  of  a  prior  mode  of  communication. 

For  the  present  purpose  there  is,  however,  no  need  to  determine  upon 
the  priority  between  communication  of  ideas  by  bodily  motion  and  by  vocal 
articulation.  It  is  enough  to  admit  that  the  connection  between  them  AVJIS 
so  early  and  intimate  that  the  gestures,  in  the  wide  sense  indicated  of  pre 
senting  ideas  under  physical  forms,  had  a  direct  formative  effect  upon  many 
words ;  that  they  exhibit  the  earliest  condition  of  the  human  mind ;  are 
traced  from  the  farthest  antiquity  among  all  peoples  possessing  records ; 
are  universally  prevalent  in  the  savage  stage  of  social  evolution ;  survive 
agreeably  in  the  scenic  pantomime,  and  still  adhere  to  the  ordinary  speech 
of  civilized  man  by  motions  of  the  face,  hands,  head,  and  body,  often  invol 
untary,  often  purposely  in  illustration  or  emphasis. 

MODERN  USE  OF  GESTURES  AND  SIGNS. 

The  power  of  the  visible  gesture  relative  to  and  its  influence  upon 
the  words  of  modern  oral  speech  are  perhaps,  with  the  qualification  here 
after  indicated,  in  inverse  proportion  to  the  general  culture,  but  do  not 
bear  that  or  any  constant  proportion  to  the  development  of  the  several 
languages  with  which  gesture  is  still  more  or  less  associated  They  are 
affected  more  by  the  sociological  conditions  of  the  speakers  than  by  the 
degree  of  excellence  of  their  tongue.  The  statement  is  frequently  made 
that  gesture  is  yet  to  some  highly-advanced  languages  a  necessary  modify 
ing  factor,  and  that  only  when  a  language  has  become  so  artificial  as  to  be 
completely  expressible  in  written  signs — indeed,  has  been  remodeled  through 
their  long  familiar  use — can  the  bodily  signs  be  wholly  dispensed  with.  The 
story  has  been  told  by  travelers  in  many  parts  of  the  world  that  various 
languages  cannot  be  clearly  understood  in  the  dark  by  their  possessors, 
using  their  mother  tongue  between  themselves.  The  evidence  for  this  any 
where  is  suspicious,  and  when  it  is,  as  it  often  has  been,  asserted  about 
som.e  of  the  tribes  of  North  American  Indians,  it  is  absolutely  false,  and 
must  be  attributed  to  the  error  of  travelers  who,  ignorant  of  the  dialect, 
never  see  the  natives  except  when  trying  to  make  themselves  intelligible  to 
their  visitors  by  a  practice  which  they  have  found  by  experience  to  have 


I,  J  U  U  A  K  V 

I'N  I  VKKSITV    OK 

rAUKOUNIA.   | 

INDIAN  TONGUES  NOT  DEPENDENT  ON  GESTURE.  U 

been  successful  with  strangers  to  their  tongue,  or  perhaps  when  they  are 
guarding  against  being  overheard  by  others.  In  fact,  individuals  of  those 
American  tribes  specially  instanced1  in  these  reports  as  unable  to  converse 
without  gesture,  often,  in  their  domestic  abandon,  wrap  themselves  up  in 
robes  or  blankets  with  only  breathing  holes  before  the  nose,  so  that  no  part 
of  the  body  is  seen,  and  chatter  away  for  hours,  telling  long  stories.  If 
in  daylight  they  thus  voluntarily  deprive  themselves  of  the  possibility  of 
making  signs,  it  is  clear  that  their  preference  for  talks  around  the  fire  at 
night  is  explicable  by  very  natural  reasons  without  the  one  attributed. 
The  inference,  once  carelessly  made  from  the  free  use. of  gesture  by  some 
of  the  Numa  stock,  that  their  tongue  was  too  meager  for  use  without 
signs,  is  refuted  by  the  now  ascertained  fact  that  their  vocabulary  is 
remarkably  copious  and  their  parts  of  speech  better  differentiated  than  those 
of  many  people  on  whom  no  such  stigma  has  been  affixed.  All  theories, 
indeed,  based  upon  the  supposed  poverty  of  American  languages  must 
be  abandoned. 

The  true  distinction  is  that  where  people  speaking  precisely  the  same 
dialect  are  not  numerous,  and  are  thrown  into  constant  contact  on  equal 
terms  witli  others  of  differing  dialects  and  languages,  gesture  is  necessarily 
resorted  to  for  converse  with  the  latter,  and  remains  as  a  habit  or  accom 
plishment  among  themselves,  while  large  bodies  enjoying  common  speech, 
and  either  isolated  from  foreigners,  or,  when  in  contact  with  them,  so  domi 
nant  as  to  compel  the  learning  and  adoption  of  their  own  tongue,  become 
impassive  in  its  delivery.  The  undemonstrative  English,  long  insular,  and 
now  rulers  when  spread  over  continents,  may  be  compared  with  the  profusely 
gesticulating  Italians  dwelling  in  a  maze  of  dialects  and  subject  for  centu 
ries  either  to  foreign  rule  or  to  the  influx  of  strangers  on  whom  they  de 
pended.  King  Ferdinand  returning  to  Naples  after  the  revolt  of  1821,  and 
finding  that  the  boisterous  multitude  would  not  allow  his  voice  to  be  heard, 
resorted  successfully  to  a  royal  address  in  signs,  giving  reproaches,  threats, 
admonitions,  pardon,  and  dismissal,  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  assem 
bled  lazzaroni,  which  rivalry  of  Punch  would,  in  London,  have  occasioned 
measureless  ridicule  and  disgust.  The  difference  in  what  is  vaguely  styled 
temperament  does  not  wholly  explain  this  contrast,  for  the  performance  was 


12  TOE  TSINUK  JAKGON. 

creditable  both  to  the  readiness  of  the  King  in  an  emergency  and  to  the 
aptness  of  his  people,  the  main  distinction  being  that  in  Italy  there  was  a 
recognized  and  cultivated  language  of  signs  long  disused  in  Great.  Britain. 
As  the  number  of  dialects  in  any  district  decreases  so  will  the  gestures, 
though  doubtless  there  is  also  influence  from  the  fact  not  merely  that  a  lan 
guage  has  been  reduced  to  and  modified  by  writing,  but  that  people  who 
are  accustomed  generally  to  read  and  write,  as  are  the  English  and  Ger 
mans,  will  after  a  time  think  and  talk  as  they  write,  and  without  the  ac 
companiments  still  persistent  among  Hindus,  Arabs,  and  the  less  literate 
Europeans. 

Many  instances  are  shown  of  the  discontinuance  of  gesture-speech 
with  no  development  in  the  native  language  of  the  gesturers,  but  from  the 
invention  for  intercommunication  of  one  used  in  common.  The  Kalapuyas 
of  Southern  Oregon  until  recently  used  a  sign-language,  but  have  grad- 
uallv  adopted  for  foreign  intercourse  the  composite  tongue,  commonly  called 
the  Tsinuk  or  Chinook  jargon,  which  probably  arose  for  trade  purposes  on  the 
Columbia  Ixiver  before  the  advent  of  Europeans,  founded  on  the  Tsinuk, 
Tsihali,  Nutka,  &c.,  but  now  enriched  by  English  and  French  terms,  and 
have  nearly  forgotten  their  old  signs.  The  prevalence  of  this  mongrel 
speech,  originating  in  the  same  causes  that  produced  the  pigeon-English 
or  lingua-franca  of  the  Orient,  explains  the  marked  scantness  of  sign-language 
among  the  tribes  of  the  Northwest  coast.  No  explanation  is  needed  for 
the  disuse  of  that  mode  of  communication  when  the  one  of  surrounding 
civilization  is  recognized  as  necessary  or  important  to  be  acquired,  and 
gradually  becomes  known  as  the  best  common  medium,  even  before  it  is 
actually  spoken  by  many  individuals  of  the  several  tribes. 

IS  INDIAN  SIGN-LANGUAGE  UNIVERSAL  AND  IDENTICAL? 

The  assertion  has  been  made  by  many  writers,  and  is  currently  re 
peated  by  Indian  traders  and  some  Army  officers,  that  all  the  tribes  of 
North  America  have  had  and  still  use  a  common  and  identical  sign-language 
of  ancient  origin,  in  which  they  can  communicate  freely  without  oral  assist 
ance.  The  fact  that  this  remarkable  statement  is  at  variance  with  some  of 
the  principles  of  the  formation  and  use  of  signs  set  forth  by  Dr.  TYLOR, 


IS  INDIAN  SIGN-LANGUAGE  UNIVERSAL  AND  IDENTICAL?         13 

whose  inimitable  chapters  on  gesture-speech  in  his  "  Researches  into  the 
Early  History  of  Mankind  "  have  in  a  great  degree  prompted  the  present 
inquiries,  does  not  appear  to  have  attracted  the  attention  of  that  eminent, 
authority.  He  receives  the  report  without  question,  and  formulates  it,  that, 
"  the  same  signs  serve  as  a  medium  of  converse  from  Hudson  Bay  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico."  Its  truth  can  only  be  established  by  careful  comparison 
of  lists  or  vocabularies  of  signs  taken  under  test  conditions  at  widely  dif 
ferent  times  and  places.  For  this  purpose  lists  have  been  collated  by  the 
writer,  taken  in  different  parts  of  the  country  at  several  dates,  from  the  last 
century  to  the  last  month,  comprising  together  more  than  eight  hundred 
signs,  many  of  them,  however,  being  mere  variants  or  synonyms  for  the 
same  object  or  quality,  and  some  being  of  small  value  from  uncertainty  in 
description  or  authority,  or  both. 

The  result  of  the  collation  and  analysis  thus  far  made  is  that  the  al 
leged  existence  of  one  universal  and  absolute  sign-language  is,  in  its  terms 
of  general  assertion,  one  of  the  many  popular  errors  prevailing  about  our 
aborigines.  In  numerous  instances  there  is  an  entire  discrepancy  between 
the  signs  made  by  different  bodies  of  Indians  to  express  the  same  idea  ; 
and  if  any  of  these  are  regarded  as  determinate,  or  even  widely  conven 
tional,  and  used  without  further  devices,  they  will  fail  in  conveying  the 
desired  impression  to  any  one  unskilled  in  gesture  as  an  art,  who  had  not 
formed  the  same  precise  conception  or  been  instructed  in  the  arbitrary 
motion.  Probably  none  of  the  gestures  that  are  found  in  current  use  are, 
in  their  origin,  conventional,  but  are  only  portions,  more  or  less  elaborate, 
of  obvious  natural  pantomime,  and  those  proving  efficient  to  convey  most 
successfully  at  any  time  the  several  ideas  became  the  most  widely  adopted, 
liable,  however,  to  be  superseded  by  yet  more  appropriate  conceptions  and 
delineations.  The  skill  of  any  tribe  and  the  copiousness  of  its  signs  are 
proportioned  to  the  accidental  ability  of  the  few  individuals  in  it  who  act 
as  custodians  and  teachers,  so  that  the  several  tribes  at  different  times  vary 
in  their  degree  of  proficiency,  and  therefore  both  the  precise  mode  of  semi- 
otic  expression  and  the  amount  of  its  general  use  are  always  fluctuating. 
All  the  signs,  even  those  classed  as  innate,  were  at  some  time  invented  by 
some  one  person,  though  by  others  simultaneously  and  independently,  and 


14  PEOCESS  SAME  AS  AMOXG  DEAF-MUTES. 

many  of  them  became  forgotten  and  were  reinvented.  Their  prevalence 
and  permanence  were  determined  by  the  experience  of  their  utility,  and  it 
would  be  highly  interesting  to  ascertain  how  long  a  time  was  required  for 
a  distinctly  new  conception  or  execution  to  gain  currency,  become  "the 
fashion,"  so  to  speak,  over  a  large  part  of  the  continent,  and  to  be  sup 
planted  by  a  new  "  mode." 

The  process  is  precisely  the  same  as  among  the  deaf-mutes.  One  of 
those,  living  among  his  speaking  relatives,  may  invent  signs  which  the 
latter  are  taught  to  understand,  though  strangers  sometimes  will  not,  be 
cause  they  may  be  by  no  means  the  fittest  expressions.  Should  a  dozen  or 
more  deaf-mutes,  possessed  only  of  such  crude  signs,  come  together,  they 
will  be  able  at  first  to  communicate  only  on  a  fe\v  common  subjects,  but 
the  number  of  those  and  the  general  scope  of  expression  will  be  continually 
enlarged.  They  will  also  resort  to  the  invention  of  new  signs  for  new 
ideas  as  they  arise,  which  will  be  made  intelligible,  if  necessary,  through 
the  illustration  and  definition  given  by  signs  formally  adopted,  so  that  the 
fittest  signs  will  be  evolved,  after  mutual  trial,  and  will  survive.  A  multi 
plication  of  the  numbers  confined  togethei',  either  of  deaf-mutes  or  of  Indians 
whose  speech  is  diverse,  will  not  decrease  the  resulting  uniformity,  though 
it  will  increase  both  the  copiousness  and  the  precision  of  the  vocabulary. 
The  only  one  of  the  correspondents  of  the  present  writer  who  remains 
demonstratively  unconvinced  of  the  diversities  in  Indian  sign-language, 
perhaps  became  prejudiced  when  in  charge  of  a  reservation  where  Arap- 
ahos,  Chevennes,  and  Sioux  had  for  a  considerable  time  been  kept  secluded, 
so  far  as  could  be  done  by  governmental  power,  from  the  outer  world,  and 
where  naturally  their  signs  were  modified  so  as  to  become  common  property. 

Sometimes  signs,  doubtless  once  air-pictures  of  the  most  striking  out 
line  of  an  object,  or  of  the  most  characteristic  features  of  an  action,  have 
in  time  become  abbreviated  and,  to  some  extent,  conventionalized  among 
members  of  the  same  tribe  and  its  immediate  neighbors,  and  have  not  be 
come  common  to  them  with  other  tribes  simply  because  the  form  of  abbre 
viation  has  been  peculiar.  In  other  cases,  with  the  same  conception  and 
attempted  characterization,  another  yet  equally  appropriate  delineation  has 
been  selected,  and  when  both  of  the  differing  delineations  have  been  abbre- 


CAUSES  OF  THE  ERROXEOUS  REPORT.  15 

viated  the  diversity  is  vastly  increased.  The  original  conception,  being 
independent,  has  necessarily  also  varied,  because  all  objects  have  several 
characteristics,  and  what  struck  one  set  of  people  as  the  most  distinctive 
of  these  would  not  always  so  impress  another.  From  these  reasons  we 
cannot  expect,  without  trouble,  to  understand  the  etymology  of  all  the 
signs,  being  less  rich  in  ancillary  material  than  were  even  the  old  philolo 
gists,  who  guessed  at  Latin  and  Greek  derivations  before  they  were  assisted 
by  Sanscrit  and  other  Aryan  roots. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  conjecture  some  of  the  causes  of  the  report  under 
consideration.  Explorers  and  officials  are  naturally  brought  into  contact 
more  closely  with  those  persons  of  the  tribes  visited  who  are  experts  in  the 
sign-language  than  with  their  other  members,  and  those  experts  are  selected, 
on  account  of  their  skill  as  interpreters,  as  guides  to  accompany  the  visit 
ors.  The  latter  also  seek  occasion  to  be  present  when  the  signs  are  used, 
whether  with  or  without  words,  in  intertribal  councils,  and  then  the  same 
class  of  experts  are  the  orators,  for  this  long  exercise  in  gesture-speech  has 
made  the  Indian  politicians,  with  no  special  effort,  masters  of  the  art  only 
acquired  by  our  public  speakers  after  laborious  apprenticeship  before  their 
mirrors.  The  whole  theory  and  practice  of  sign-language  being  that  all 
who  understand  its  principles  can  make  themselves  mutually  intelligible, 
the  fact  of  the  ready  comprehension  and  response  among  all  the  skilled 
gestnrers  gives  the  impression  of  a  common  code.  Furthermore,  if  the 
explorer  learns  to  use  any  of  the  signs  used  by  any  of  the  tribes,  he  will 
probably  be  understood  in  any  other  by  the  same  class  of  persons  who  will 
surround  him  in  the  latter,  thereby  confirming  him  in  the  "  universal" 
theory.  Those  of  the  tribe  who  are  less  skilled,  but  who  are  not  noticed, 
might  be  unable  to  catch  the  meaning  of  signs  which  have  not  been  actu 
ally  taught  to  them,  just  as  ignorant  persons  among  us  cannot  derive  any 
sense  from  newly-coined  words  or  those  strange  to  their  habitual  vocabu 
lary,  which  linguistic  scholars  would  instantly  understand,  though  never 
before  heard,  and  might  afterward  adopt. 

In  order  to  sustain  the  position  taken  as  to  the  existence  of  a  general 
system  instead  of  a  uniform  code,  admitting  the  generic  unity  while  deny 
ing  the  specific  identity,  and  to  show  that  this  is  not  a  distinction  without 


16  AUTHORITIES  FOR  SIGNS  CITED. 

a,  difference,  a  number  of  specimens  are  extracted  from  the  present  collec 
tion  of  signs,  which  are  also  in  some  cases  compared  with  those  of  deaf- 
mutes  and  with  gestures  made  by  other  peoples. 

AUTHORITIES    FOR    THE    SIGNS    CITED. 

The  signs,  descriptions  of  which  are  submitted  in  the  present  paper,  are 
taken  from  some  one  or  more  of  the  following  authorities,  viz  : 

1.  A  list  prepared  by  WILLIAM  DUNBA.R,  dated  Natchez,  June  30,  1800, 
collected  from  tribes  then  west  of  the  Mississippi,  but  probably  not  from 
those  very  far  west  of  that  river,  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Amer 
ican  Philosophical  Society,  vol.  vi,  as  read  January  16,  1801,  and  commu 
nicated  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  president  of  the  society. 

2.  The  one  published  in  1823  in  "An  Account  of  an  Expedition  from 
Pittsburgh  to  the  Rocky  Moiintains,  performed  in  the  years  1819—1820. 
By  order  of  the  lion.  J.  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  War,  under  the  command 
of  Maj.  S.  II.  LONG,  of  the  United  States  Topographical  Engineers."    (Com 
monly  called  James'  Long's  Expedition.)     This  appears  to  have  been  col 
lected  chiefly  by  Mr.  T.  Say,  from  the  Pani,  and  the  Kansas,  Otoes,  Mis- 
souris,  lowas,  Omahas,  and  other  southern  branches  of  the  great  Dakota 
family. 

3.  The  one  collected  by  Prince  MAXIMILIAN  von  WIED-NEUWIED  in 
1832-34,  from  the  Cheyenne,  Shoshoni,  Arikara,  Satsika,  and  the  Absaroki, 
the  Mandans,  Ilidatsa,  and  other  Northern  Dakotas.     This  list  is  not  pub 
lished  in  the  English  edition,  but  appears  in  the  German,  Coblenz,  1839, 
and  in  the  French,  Paris,   1840.     Bibliographic  reference  is  often  made  to 
this  distinguished  explorer  as  "  Prince  Maximilian,"  as  if  there  were   not 
many  possessors  of  that    Christian  name    among  princely  families.     For 
brevity  the  reference  in  this  paper  will  be  "  Wicd." 

4.  The  small  collection  of  J.  G.  KOHL,  made  about  the  middle  of  the 
present  century,   among  the  Ojibwas  and  their   neighbors  around  Lake 
Superior.     Published  in  his  "Kitchigami.     Wanderings  around  Lake  Supe 
rior,"  London,  I860. 

5.  That  of  the  distinguished  explorer,  Capt  R.  F.  BURTON,  collected  in 
1860-61,  from  the  tribes  met  or  learned  of  on  the  overland  stage  route, 


AUTHORITIES  FOll  SKSXS  OITKI).  17 

including  Southern   Dakotas,  Utes,  Shoshoni,  Arapahos,  Crows,  Pani,  and 
Apaches.     This  is  contained  in  "The  City  of  the  Saints,"  New  York,  18G2. 

6.  A  manuscsipt  list  in  the  possession  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology, 
contributed  by  Brevet  Col.  JAMES  S.  BRISBIN,  Major  Second  Cavalry,  United 
States  Army,  probably  prepared  in  1878-79,  and  chiefly  taken  from  the 
Crows,  Shoshoni,  and  Sioux. 

7.  A  list  prepared  in  July,  1879,  by  Mr.  FRANK  II.  GUSHING,  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution,  from  continued  interviews  with  Titchkematski,  an 
intelligent  Cheyenne,  now  employed  at  that  Institution,  whose  gestures  were 
analyzed,  their  description  as  made  dictated  to  a  phonographer,  and  the 
more  generic  signs  also  photographed  as  made  before  the  camera.     The 
name  of  the  Indian  in  reference  to  this  list  is  used  instead  of  that  of  the 
collector,  as  Mr.  Gushing  has  made  other  contributions,  to  be  separately 
noted  with  his  name  for  distinctiveness. 

8.  A  valuable  and  illustrated  contribution  from  Dr.  WASHINGTON  MAT 
THEWS,  Assistant  Surgeon  United  States  Army,  author  of  "  Ethnography 
and  Philology  of  the  Ilidatsa  Indians,"  &c.,  lately  prepared  from  his  notes 
and  recollections  of  signs  observed  during  his  long  service  among  the  In 
dians  of  the  Upper  Missouri  and  the  plains. 

9.  A  report  of  Dr.  W.  J.  HOFFMAN,  from  observations  among  the  Te- 
ton  Dakotas  while  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon,  United  States  Army,  and  sta 
tioned  at  Grand  River  Agency,  Dakota,  during  1872-73. 

10.  A  special  contribution  from  Lieut.  II.  R.  LEMLY,  Third  United 
States  Artillery,  compiled  from  notes  and  observations   taken  by  him  in 
1877  among  the  Northern  Arapahos. 

11.  Some  preliminary  notes  lately  received  from  Rev.  TAYLOR  F.  EALY,, 
missionary  among  the  Zufri,  upon  the  signs  of  that  body  of  Indians. 

12.  Similar  notes  from  Rev.  A.  J.  HOLT,  Denison,  Tex.,  respecting  the 
Comanche  signs. 

13.  Similar  notes  from  Very  Rev.  EDWARD  JACKER,  Pointe  St.  Ignace, 
Mich.,  respecting  the  Ojibwa. 

14.  A  special  list  from  Rev.  J    OWEN  DORSEY,  missionary  at  Omaha 
Agency,  Nebraska,  from  observations  lately  made  among  the  Ponkas  and 
Omahas. 

2    S   L 


18  DIVERSE  COXCEPTIOX.S  AND   EXECTTIOXS. 

15.  A  letter  from  J.  AY.  POWELL,  esq.,  Indian  superintendent,  British 
Columbia,  relating'  to  his  observations  among  the  Kutine  and  others. 

1C.  A  special  list  from  Dr.  CIIAKLF.S  lv  Mc(  'ar.sMiv,  Acting  Assistant 
Surgeon  United  States  Army,  of  signs  collected  among  the  Dakotas  (Sioux) 
near  Fort  Bennett,  Dakota,  during  the  present  winter. 

17.  A  communication  from  Rev.  JAMES  A  GILFILT.AX,  AAHiitc   Earth, 
Minn.,  relating  to  signs  observed  among  the  Ojibwas  during  his  long  period 
of  missionary  dutv,  still  continuing. 

18.  A  communication  from  Brevet  Col.  RICHARD  I.  DODGF,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Twenty-third    Infantry,    United    States    Army,   author  of    "  The 
Plains  of  the  Great  AA'est  and  their   Inhabitants,"  &c.,  relating  to  his  large 
experience  with  the  Indians  of  the  prairies. 

19.  A  list  contributed  by  Rev.  G.  L.  DEFFENBAUGH,  of  Lapvvai,  Idaho, 
giving  signs  obtained  at  Kamiah,  and  xised  by  the  Sahaptin  or  Nez  Forces. 

'20.  Information  obtained  by  Dr.  W.  J.  HOFFMANN,  in  assisting  the  pres 
ent  writer,  from  XATSIIES,  a  Pah-Ute  chief,  who  was  one  of  a  delegation  of 
that  tribe  to  AArashington,  in  January;  1S80. 

•21.  Information  from  Major  J.  M.  HAWOKTII,  special  agent  of  the  In 
dian  Bureau,  relating  to  the  Comanches. 

The  adjunction  to  the  descriptions  of  the  name  of  the  particular  author, 
contributor,  or  person  from  whom  thev  are  severally  taken  (a  plan  which 
will  be  pursued  in  the  iinal  publication)  not  only  furnishes  evidence  ot 
authenticity,  but  indicates  the  locality  and  time  of  observation. 

INSTANCES  OF  DIVERSE  CONCEPTIONS  AND  EXECUTIONS. 

Some  examples  have  been  selected  of  diverse  conceptions  and  execu 
tions  for  the  same  object  or  thought. 
CJiicf.  Seven  distinct  signs. 

1.  Forefinger  of  right  hand  extended,  passed  perpendicularly  down 
ward,  then   turned  upward  in  a  right  line  as  high  as  the  head.  (Long.) 
"  Rising  above  others." 

2.  AVith  forefinger  of  right  hand,  of  which  the  other  fingers  are  closed, 
pointing  up,  back  to  forehead,  describe  the  flight  of  an  arrow  shot  up  and 
turning  down  again,  allowing  the  hand  to  drop,  the  finger  pointing  down 
until  about    the  middle  of  the  body.  (Brisbht.)     Same  idea  of  superior 


CIIIKF— DAY.  19 

height  expressed  conversely.  Almost  the  same  sign,  the  hand,  however, 
being  moved  downward  rapidly  and  the  gesture  preceded  by  touching  the 
lower  lip  with  the  index,  the  French  deaf-mutes  use  for  "command,1'  "order." 

3.  The  extended  forefinger  of  the  right  hand,  of  which  the  other  fingers 
are  closed,  is  raised  to  the  right  side  of  the  head,  and  above  it  as  far  as  the 
arm  can  be  extended,  and  then  the  hand  is  brought  down  in  front  of  the 
body,  with  wrist  bent,  the  back  of  hand  in  front,  extended  forefinger  point 
ing  downward  and  the  others  closed.     "Raised  above  others."  (McChesney.) 

4.  Begin  with  sign  f>r  "man;"  then  the  forefinger  of  right  hand  points 
forward  and  downward,  followed  by  a  curved  motion  forward,  outward,  and 
downward.  (Titchkemdtski.)     "He  who  sits  still  and  commands  others." 

5.  Raise  the  index  of  right  hand,  which  is  held  upright;  turn  the  index 
in  a  circle   and   lower   it  a  little   to   the  earth.   (W'ted.)      "He  who  is  the 
center  of  surrounding   inferiors."     The   air-picture  reminds   of  the   royal 
scepter  with  its  sphere. 

6.  Bring  the  closed  right  hand,  forefinger  pointing  up,  on  a  level  with 
the  face;  then  bring  the  palm  of  the  left  hand  with  force  against  the  right 
forefinger;  next  send  up  the  right  hand  above  the  head,  leaving  the  left  as 
it  is.  (Dorset/.) 

1.  The  Pah-Utes  distinguish  the  head  chief  of  the  tribe  from  the  chief  of 
a  band.  For  the  former  they  grasp  the  forelock  with  the  right  hand,  palm 
backward,  pass  the  hand  upward  about  six  inches,  and  hold  the  hair  in  that 
position  a  moment;  and  for  the  latter  they  make  the  same 'motion,  but 
instead  of  holding  the  hair  above  the  head  they  lay  it  down  over  the  right 
temple,  holding  it  tliere  a  moment.  (Xatsltes.*) 

Dai/.  Seven  signs. 

1.  Pass  the  index-finger  pointing  along  the  vault  of  heaven  from  east 
to  west.  (Kohl*)     Our  deaf-mutes  use  the  same  sign. 

2.  Same  motion  with  whole  right  hand.  (Srislin.) 

3.  Same  motion  with   forefinger  of  right  hand  crooked,  followed  by 
both  hands  slightly  spread  out  and  elevated  to  a  point  in  front  of  and  con 
siderably  above  the  head,  then   brought  down  in  a  semicircle  to  a  level 
below  the  shoulder,  ending  with  outsp  ead  palms  upward.  (Titclikemdtski.} 
This,  probably,  is  the  opening  out  of  the  day  from  above,  after  the  risen  sun. 


20  DAY— TODAY. 

4.  Simply  make  a  circle  with  the  forefingers  of  both  hands.   (Burton.) 
The  round  disk. 

5.  Place  both  hands  at  some  distance  in  front  of  the  breast,  apart,  and 
backs  downward    (WietL) 

G.  Bring  both  hands  simultaneously  from  a  position  in  front  of  the 
body,  fingers  extended  and  joined,  palms  down  one  above  the  other,  fore 
arms  horizontal,  in  a  circularly  separating  manner  to  their  respective  sides, 
palms  up  and  forearms  horizontal;  /.  c.,  "  Everything  is  open."  (Lcinl//.) 

1.  Both  hands  raised  in  front  of  and  a  little  higher  than  the  head, 
fingers  of  both  hands  horizontal,  extended,  and  meeting  at  the  tips,  palms 
of  hands  downward,  and  arms  bowed;  open  up  the  hands  with  fingers  per 
pendicular,  and  at  once  carry  the  arms  out  to  their  full  extent  to  the  sides 
of  the  body,  bringing  the  palms  up.  "  The  opening  of  the  day  from  above. 
The  dispersion  of  darkness."  (McChesney.) 

The  French  deaf-mutes  fold  the  hands  upon  each  other  and  the  breast, 
then  raise  them,  palms  inward,  to  beyond  each  side  of  the  head. 

To-day,  this  day,  has  four  widely  discrepant  signs  in,  at  least,  appear 
ance.  In  one,  the  nose  is  touched  with  the  index  tip,  followed  by  a  motion 
of  the  fist  toward  the  ground  (Burton),  perhaps  including  the  idea  of  "now," 
"here."  In  another,  both  hands  are  extended,  palms  outward,  and  swept 
slowly  forward  and  to  each  side.  (Titchkemdtski.)  This -may  combine  the 
idea  of  now  with  openness,  the  first  part  of  it  resembling  the  general  deaf- 
mute  sign  for  "here"  or  "now." 

A  third  observer  gives  as  used  for  the  idea  of  the  present  day  the  sign 
also  used  for  "hour,"  viz:  join  the  tips  of  the  thumb  and  forefinger  of  the  same 
hand,  the  interior  outline  approximating  a  circle,  and  let  the  hand  pause  at 
the  proper  altitude  east  or  west  of  the  assumed  meridian.  (Leinhj.) 

A  fourth  reports  a  compound  sign:  First  make  the  following  sign,  which 
is  that  for  "now."  Forefinger  of  right  hand  (of  which  the  other  fingers 
are  closed)  extended,  raise  the  arm  perpendicularly  a  little  above  the  right 
side  of  the  head,  so  that  the  extended  finger  will  point  to  the  center  of  the 
heavens  and  then  brought  down  on  a  level  with  the  rijjlit  breast,  forefinger 

"  o  O 

still  pointing  up,  and  immediately  carry  it  to  the  position  required  in  mak- 


DEATH,  DEAD.  21 

ing-  the  sign  for  day  as  above  (McCliesney),  which  is  used  to  complete  the 
sign  for  to-day .  (McCliesney.} 
Death,  dead.  Seven  sig-ns. 

1.  Rig-lit  hand,  iing-evs  front  at  height  of  stomach,  then,  with  a  sort  of 
flop,  throw  the  hand  over  with  the   palm  up,  finger  pointing-  a  little  to  the 
right  and  front,  hand  held  horizontal.   (Brisbin.)      "  Upset,  keeled  over." 

2.  Left  hand  flattened  and  held,  back  upward,  thumb  inward,  in  front 
of  and  a  few  inches  from  the  breast;   right  hand  slightly  clasped,  forefinger 
more  extended  than  the  others,  and  passed  suddenly  under  the  left  hand, 
the  latter  being  at  the  same  time  gently  moved  toward  the  breast.   (2'itrhke- 
mutsli.')      "Gone  under." 

3.  Hold  the  left  hand  flat  against  the  face,  back  outward;   then  pass 
the  right  hand,  held  in  the  same  manner,  under  the  left,  striking  and  touch 
ing  it  lightly.  ( ]Vi<'d.)  The  same  idea  of  "under "or "burial,"  quite  differently 
executed.    Dr.  McChesney,  however,  conjectures  this  sign  to  be  that  of  won 
der  or  surprise  at  hearing  of  a  death,  but  not  a  distinct  sign  for  the  latter. 

4.  Throw  the  forefinger  from  the  perpendicular  into  a  horizontal  posi 
tion  toward  the  earth  with  the  back  downward.   (Long.) 

5.  Place  the  left  forefinger  and  thumb  against  the  heart,  act  as  if  tak 
ing  a  hair  from  the  thumb  and  forefinger  of  the  left  hand  with  the  forefinger 
and  thumb  of  the  right  and  slowly  cast  it  from  you,  only  letting  the  left 
hand  remain  at  the  heart,  and  let  the  index-finger  of  the  right  hand  point 
outward  toward  the  distant  horizon.   (Holt.} 

6.  Palm  of  hand  upward,  then  a  wave-like  motion  toward  the  ground. 
(Ealy.} 

1.  Place  the  palm  of  the  hand  at  a  short  distance  from  the  side  of  the 
head,  then  withdraw  it  gently  in  an  oblique  downward  direction,  inclining 
the  head  and  upper  part  of  the  body  in  the  same  direction.  (Jflc/rer.) 

The  last  authority  notes  that  there  is  an  apparent  connection  between 
this  conception  and  execution  and  the  etymology  of  the  corresponding 
terms  in  Ojibwa:  "he  dies,"  is  nibo ;  "he  sleeps,"  is  niba.  The  common  idea 
expressed  by  the  gesture  is  a  sinking  to  rest.  The  original  significance  of 
the  root  nib  seems  to  be  "  leaning;"  anibeia,  "  it  is  leaning;"  aiiibckweni,  "  he 
inclines  the  head  sidewards."  The  word  niba  or  nibe  (only  in  compounds) 


22  KILL— FKA1J. 

conveys  the  idea  of  "night,"  perhaps  as  the  falling  over,  the  going  to  rest, 
or  the  death,  of  the  dav.  The  term  for  "leaf"  (of  a  tree  or  plant),  whirli 
is  (i>/ibixlt,  niav  spring  from  the  same  root,  leaves  being  the  leaning  or  down- 
hanging  parts  of  the  plant.  With  this  may  be  compared  the  Chahta  term 
for  "leaves,"  literally  translated  "tree  hair". 

The  French  di-af-mute  conception  is  that  of  gently  falling  or  sinking, 
the  right  index  falling  from  the  height  of  the  right  shoulder  upon  the  left 
forefinger  toward  which  the  head  is  inclined. 

Kill,  in  one  sign  the  hands  are  held  with  the  edges  upward,  and  the 
right  strikes  the  left  transversely,  as  in  the  act  of  chopping.  This  seems  to 
convey  particularly  the  notion  of  a  stroke  with  a  tomahawk  or  war-clnb. 
(L<»i/l.}  It  is  more  definitely  expressed  as  follows:  The  left  hand,  thumb 
up,  back  forwards,  not  very  rigidly  extended,  is  held  before  the-  chest  and 
struck  in  the  palm  with  the  outer  edge  of  the  right  hand.  (Matthews.*) 
Another  sign:  Smite  the  sinister  palm  earthward  with  the  dexter  fist  sharply, 
in  suggestion  of  going  down.  (Hitrtoii.)  Another:  Strike  out  with  the  dex 
ter  list  toward  the  ground,  meaning  to  shut  down.  (Burton;  McChcsncy.) 
This  same  sign  is  made  by  the  Utes,  with  the  statement  that  it  means  "to 
kill"  or  "stab"  Avith  a  knife,  having  reference  to  the  time  when  that  was 
the  most  common  weapon.  A  fourth:  Pass  the  right  under  the  left  lore- 
linger  (Ijiuion),  "  make  go  under."  The  threat,  "  I  will  kill  you,"  appears 
in  one  case  as  directing  the  right  hand  toward  the  offender  and  springing 
the  finger  from  the  thumb  as  in  the  act  of  sprinkling  water  (Lony),  the  idea 
being  perhaps  causing  blood  to  flow,  or  perhaps  sputtering  away  the  life, 
though  this  part  of  the  sign  is  nearly  the  same  as  that  sometimes  used  for 
the  discharge  of  a  gun  or  arrow. 

Fear,  coward. 

1 .  Both  hands,  with  fingers  turned  inward  opposite  the  lower  ribs,  then 
brought  upward  with  a  tremulous  motion,  as  if  to  represent  the  common 
idea  of  the  heart  rising  up  to  the  throat,  (D  unbar.) 

'2.  Head  stooped  down,  and  arm  thrown  up  quickly  as  if  to  protect  it. 
(Long.) 

3.  Fingers  and  thumb  of  right  hand,  which  droops  downward,  closed 
to  a  point  to  represent  a  heart,  violently  and  repeatedly  beaten  against  the 


1;  J  B  R  A  R  v 

I'N  I  V  Kits  I  TV    OF 

CAIJKOUX!  \. 

™AR— \YOMAN— QUANTITY.  23 

left  breast  just  over  the  heart  to  imitate  palpitation.  (Titchkemdtski.)  The 
Sioux  use  the  same  sign  without  closing1  the  fingers  to  represent  a  heart. 
(McChesncy.) 

The  French  deaf-mutes,  besides  beating  the  heart,  add  a  nervous  back 
ward  shrinking  with  both  hands.  Our  deaf-mutes  omit  the  beating-  of  the 
heart,  except  for  excessive  terror. 

4.  Point  forward  several  times  with  the  index,  followed  by  the  remain 
ing-  fingers,  each  time  drawing-  the  index  back  (  Wivd],  as  if  impossible  to 
keep  the  man  to  the  front. 

5.  May  be  signified  by  making-  the  sign  for  a  squaw,  if  the  one  in  fear 
be  a  man  or  boy.   (Lenity.) 

6.  Cross  the  arms  over  the  breast,  fists  closed,  bow  the  head  over  the 
crossed  arms,  but  turn  it  a  little  to  the  left.   (Dorscy.) 

Woman  has  four  signs;  one  expressing  the  mamma',  one  indicating 
shortness  as  compared  with  man,  and  the  two  most  common  severally  indi 
cating  the  longer  hair  or  more  flowing  dress.  The  hair  is  sometimes  indi 
cated  by  a  motion  with  the  right  hand  as  though  drawing  a  comb  through 
the  entire  length  of  the  hair  on  that  side  of  the  head  (McChesney);  and 
sometimes  by  turning  the  right  hand  about  the  ear,  as  if  putting  the  hair 
behind  it.  (Dodge.)  The  deaf-mutes  generally  mark  the  line  of  the  bon 
net-string  down  the  cheek. 

Quantity,  many,  much.  Six  wholly  distinct  executions  and  several  con 
ceptions. 

1.  The  fiat  of  the  right  hand  patting  the  back  of  the  left  several  times, 
proportioned  in  number  to  the  quantity.  (Dunlar.)     Simple  repetition. 

2.  Clutching  at  the  air  several  times  with  both  hands.  (Kohl.)     Same 
idea  of  repetition,   more  objective.     This  sign  may  easily  be  confounded 
with  the  mode  of  counting  or  enumeration  by  presenting  the  ten  digits. 

8.  Hands  and  arms  passed  curvilinearly  outward  and  downward  as  if 
forming  a  large  globe,  then  hands  closed  and  elevated  as  if  something  were 
grasped  in  each,  and  held  up  as  high  as  the  face.  (Long.) 

4.  Hands  held  scoop-fashion,  palms  toward  each  other,  about  two  feet 
apart,  at  the  height  of  the  lower  ribs,  finger-ends  downward;  then  with 
a  diving  motion,  as  if  scooping  up  small  articles  from  a  sack  or  barrel, 


24  I,  MYSKLF—  YES. 

bring  the  hands  nearly  together,  fingers  closed,  as  if  holding  a  number  of 
the  .small  objects  in  each  hand,  and  np  again  to  the  height  of  the  breast. 
{Brinbin.~)  The  Sioux  make  substantially  the  same  sign,  with  the  difference 
that  they  begin  about  a  foot  and  a  half  from  the  ground  and  bring  the  hands 
up  to  the  height  of  the  breast.  (McCJiesney.) 

f>.  Both  hands  closed,  brought  up  in  a  curved  motion  toward  each 
other  to  the  level  of  the  neck.  (Titchkemdtski.)  Idea  of  fullness. 

(j.  Move  the  two  open  hands  toward  each  other  and  slightly  upward 
(TF/rc/)  ;  the  action  of  forming  or  delineating  a  heap. 

I,  mi/wlf,  first  personal  pronoun. 

Represented  in  some  tribes  by  motions  of  the  right  hand   upon   the 
breast,  the  hand  sometimes  clinched  and  struck  repeatedly  on  the  breast— 
or  the  lingers  or  the  index  alone  placed  upon  it.     ( Hhers  touch  the  nose-tip 
with  the  index,  or  lay  it  upon  the  ridge  of  the  nose,  the  end  resting  between 
the  eyes. 

Some  deaf-mutes  push-  the  forefinger  against  the  pit  of  the  stomach, 
others  against  the  breast,  and  others  point  it  to  the  neck  for  this  personality. 

Yes,  affirmative,  "it  is  so." 

One  of  the  signs  is  somewhat  like  "truth, "but  the  forefinger  proceeds 
straight  forward  from  the  breast  instead  of  the  mouth,  and  when  at  the  end 
of  its  course  it  seems  gently  to  strike  something,  as  if  the  subject  were  at 
an  end  (Low//)  ;  no  further  discussion,  "'null'  said,"  as  is  the  vulgar  phrase 
of  agreement.  Another:  Quick  motion  of  the  right  hand  forward  from  the 
mouth,  first  position  about  six  inches  from  the  mouth  and  final  as  far  again 
away.  In  the  first  position  the  index  is  extended,  the  others  closed,  in  the 
final  the  index  is  loosely  closed,  thrown  in  that  position  as  the  hand  is  moved 
forward,  as  though  hooking  something  with  it.  Palm  of  hand  out,  (Dcjfen- 
bauffh.) 

Others  wave  both  hands  straight  forward  from  the  face  (Burton), 
which  may  be  compared  with  the  forward  nod  common  over  most  of  the 
world  for  assent,  but  that  gesture  is  not  universal,  as  the  Xew  Zealanders 
elevate  the  head  and  chin,  and  the  Turks  shake  it  like  our  negative. 

With  others,  again,  the  right  hand  is  elevated  to  the  level  and  in  front 
of  the  shoulder,  the  first  two  fingers  somewhat  extended,  thumb  resting 
against  the  middle  finger,  and  then  a  sudden  motion  in  a  curve  forward 


YES— GOOD— HAD.  25 

and  downward.  (Titchkemdtski.')  As  this  corresponds  nearly  with  the  sign 
made  for  "  sit"  by  the  same  tribes,  its  conception  may  be  that  of  resting 
upon  or  settling  a  question. 

Still  another  variant  is  where  the  right  hand,  with  the  forefinger 
(only)  extended,  and  pointing  forward,  is  held  before  and  near  the  chest. 
It  is  then  moved  forward  one  or  two  feet,  usually  with  a  slight  curve  down 
ward.  (Matthews.} 

Good.   Six  diverse  signs. 

1.  The  hand  hold  horizontally,  back  upward,  describes  with  the  arm 
a  horizontal  curve  outward.   (io»/y.) 

2.  Simple    horizontal  movement  of   the  right  hand  from  the  breast. 
(Wicd.)     These  signs  may  convey  the  suggestion  of  level — no  difficulty — 
and  are  nearly  identical  with  one  of   those   for  "content,"'   "glad."     The 
first  of  them  is  like  our  motion  of  benediction,  but  may  more  suggestively 
be  compared  with  several  of  the  above  signs  for  "yes,"  and  in  opposition  to 
several  of  those  below  for  "bad"  and  "no,"  showing  the  idea  of  acceptance 
or  selection  of  objects  presented,  instead  of  their  rejection. 

o.  With  the  right  hand,  palm  down,  fingers  to  the  left,  thumb  touching 
the  breast,  move  the  hand  straight  to  the  front  and  slightly  upward. 
(Brisling  The  Sioux  make  the  same  sign  without  the  final  upward  motion. 
(McCJiesney.) 

4.  Wave  the  right  hand  from  the  mouth,  extending  the  thumb  from 
the  index  and  closing  the  other  three  fingers.  (Burton?) 

5.  The  right  hand,  fingers  pointing  to  the  left,  on  a  level  with  mouth, 
thumb  inward,  suddenly  moved  with  curve  outward,  so  as  to  present  the 
palm  to  the  person  addressed.  (TitchJcemdtskiS) 

These  last  signs  appear  to  be  connected  with  a  pleasant  taste  in  the 
mouth,  as  is  the  sign  of  the  French  and  our  deaf-mutes,  waving  thence  the 
hand,  back  upward,  with  fingers  straight  and  joined,  in  a  forward  and 
downward  curve.  The  same  gesture  with  hand  sidewise  is  theirs  and  ours 
for  general  assent ;  "  very  well !" 

6.  Move  the  right  hand,  palm  down,  over  the  blanket,  right  and  left 
several  times.  (Dorset).') 

Bad.  The  signs  most  common  consist  mainly  in  smartly  throwing  out 
the  dexter  fingers  as  if  sprinkling  water,  or  snapping  all  the  fingers  from  the 


2(5  r.AD— CONTEMPT— UNDERSTAND— T1JINK. 

thumb.  This  may  bo  compared  with  the  deaf-mute  sign  of  flipping  an  imagi 
nary  object  between  the  thumb-nail  and  the  forefinger,  denoting  something 
small  or  contemptible  The  motion  of  snapping  a  finger  either  on  or  from 
the  thumb  indisdain  is  not  only  of  large  modern  prevalence  in  civilization, but 
is  at  least  as  ancient  as  the  contemporary  statue  of  Sardanapalus  at  Anchiale. 
Another  sign  is,  hands  open,  palms  turned  in,  move  one  hand  toward  and 
the  other  from  the  bodv,  then  vice  versa.  Another  less  forcible  but  equally 
suggestive  gesture  for  lad  is  closing  the  hand  and  then  opening  while  lower 
ing  it,  as  if  dropping  out  the  contents  (Trice/;  McClicsney);  "not  worth  keep 
ing."  It  becomes  again  more  forcible  in  another  variant,  viz :  the  hand  closed, 
back  toward  and  near  the  breast,  then  as  the  forearm  is  suddenly  extended 
the  hand  is  opened  and  the  fingers  separated  from  each  other.  (Matthews.) 
This  is  the  casting  away  of  a  supposed  object,  and  the  same  authority  con 
nects  it  with  contempt  by  reporting  that  the  sign  for  the  latter  is  the  same, 
only  still  more  forcibly  made.  Another  sign  for  contempt,  and  which 
is  the  highest  degree  of  insult,  is  as  follows:  The  right  hand  is  shut  or 
clinched  and  held  drawn  in  toward  the  chest  and  on  a  level  with  it,  with 
the  back  of  the  hand  down,  and  the  shut  fingers  and  thumb  np,  and  the 
expression  of  contempt  is  given  by  extending  out  the  hand  and  arm  directly 
in  front  of  the  body,  at  the  same  time  opening  the  thumb  and  lingers  wide 
and  apart,  so  that  at  the  termination  of  the  motion  the  arm  is  nearly 
extended,  and  the  thumb  and  lingers  all  radiating  out  as  it  were  from  the 
center  of  the  hand,  and  the  palm  of  the  hand  still  pointing  upward.  (Gil- 
fdlun.)  The  Neapolitans,  to  express  contempt,  blow  towards  the  person  or 
thing  referred  to.  The  deaf-mutes  preserve  the  connection  of  "  bad"  and 
"taste"  by  brushing  from  the  side  of  the  month. 

Understand,  know,  is  very  variously  expressed  by  manipulations  in 
which  the  nose,  ear,  chin,  month,  and  breast  are  selected  as  objective 
points,  all  the  motions  being  appropriate.  Think  or  guess  is  also  diversely 
indicated.  Sometimes  the  forefinger  is  simply  drawn  sharply  across  the 
breast  from  left  to  right.  (Burton.)  Some  hit  the  chest  with  closed  fist, 
thumb  over  the  fist.  Again,  the  right  fist  is  held  with  the  thumb  between 
the  eyes  and  propelled  front  and  downward.  We,  for  show  of  thought,  rest 
the  forefinger  on  the  forehead.  There  is  also  a  less  intelligible  sign,  in 
which  the  right  hand,  fingers  and  thumb  loosely  closed,  index  crooked  and 


AXI M ALS—  D  K  IOR.  2  7 

slightly  extended,  is  dipped  over  toward  and  suddenly  forward  from  the 
left  shoulder.  (Titchkemdtski.)  All  the  gestures  of  deaf-mutes  relating  to 
intelligence  are  connected  with  the  forehead. 

Animals  are  expressed  pantomimically  by  some  characteristic  of  their 
motion  or  form,  and  the  Indian  mimographers  generally  seem  to  have  hit 
upon  similar  signs  for  the  several  animals;  but  to  this  rule  there  are  marked 
exceptions,  especially  in  the  signs  for  the  deer  and  the  do;j.  For  the  deer  six 
signs  are  noted : 

1.  Right  hand  extended  upward  by  the  right  ear,  with  a  quick  puff  from 
the  mouth  (Dm/bar*),  perhaps  in  allusion  to  the  fleet  escape  on  hearing  noise. 

2.  Make  several  passes  with  the  hand  before  the  face.   (TI'/«/.) 

3.  AVith  the  right  hand  in  front  of  body  on  a  level  with  the  shoulder, 
and  about  eighteen  inches  from  it,  palm  down,  make  the  quick  up-and-down 
motion  with  all  the  fingers  held  loosely  together,  as  of  the  motion  of  the 
deer's  tail  when  running.     The  wrist  is  fixed  in  making   this   sign.     It  is 
very  expressive  to  any  one  who  has  ever  seen  the  surprised  deer  in  motion. 
(McChesney.} 

4.  Forefinger   of  right  hand  extended  vertically,  back  toward  breast, 
then  turned  from  side  to  side,  to  imitate  the  motion  of  the  animal  when 
walking  at  leisure.  (Long.) 

5.  Both  hands,  fingers  irregularly  outspread  at  the  sides  of  the  head, 
to  imitate  the  outspread  horns.  (TitcJtemdtski.)     This  sign  is  made  by  our 
deaf-mutes. 

6.  Same  position,  confined  to  the  thumb  and  two  first  fingers  of  each 
hand.  (Burton.} 

The  above  signs  all  appear  to  be  used  for  the  animal  generically,  but 
the  following  are  separately  reported  for  two  of  the  species: 
Black-tailed  deer  \_Cariacus  macrotis  (Say),  Gray]. 

1.  Make  several  passes  with  the  hand  before  the  face,  then  indicate  a 
tail.  (Wicd.) 

2.  Hold  the  left  hand  pendant  a  short  distance  in  front  of  the  chest, 
thumb  inward,  finger  ends  approximated  to  each  other  as  much  as  possible 
(i.  e.,  with  the  first  and  fourth  drawn  together  under  the  second  and  third). 
Then  close  the  right  hand  around  the  left  (palm  to  back,  and  covering  the 


28  INSTANCES  OF  PREVALENT  SIGNS. 

bases  of  the  left-hand  finders)  and  draw  thorn  downward,  still  closed,  until 
it  is  entirely  drawn  away.  This  sign  seems  to  represent  the  act  of  smooth 
ing  down  the  fusiform  tuft  at  the  end  of  the  animal's  tail.  (Matthews.) 

White-tailed  deer  [Cariacits  viryinianus  maemr/is  (Raf.),  Cones]. 

Hold  the  right  hand  upright  before  the  chest,  all  lingers  but.  the  index 
being  bent,  the  palm  being  turned  as  much  to  the  front  as  possible.  Then 
wag  the  hand  from  side  to  side  a  few  times  rather  slowly.  The  arm  is 
moved  scarcely,  or  not  at  all.  This  sign  represents  the  motion  of  the  deer's 
tail.  (MtiMu'ic*.) 

For  (\<>o,  one  of  the  signs  gives  the  two  forefingers  slightly  opened, 
drawn  horizontally  across  the  breast  from  right  to  left.  (Burton.)  This 
would  not  be  intelligible  without  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  before  the 
introduction  of  the  horse,  and  even  yet,  the  dog  has  been  used  to  draw  the 
tent-poles  in  moving  camp,  and  the  sign  represents  the  trail.  Indians  less 
nomadic,  who  built  more  substantial  lodges,  and  to  whom  the  material  for 
poles  was  less  precious  than  on  the  plains,  would  not  perhaps  have  compre 
hended  this  sign,  and  the  more  general  one  is  the  palm  lowered  as  if  to 
stroke  gently  in  a  line  conforming  to  the  animal's  head  and  neck.  It  is 
abbreviated  by  simply  lowering  the  hand  to  the  usual  height  of  the  wolfish 
aboriginal  breed  (  Wied ;  Titclikemutski),  and  suggests  the  animal  par  excel 
lence  domesticated  by  the  Indians  and  made  a  companion.  The  French 
and  American  deaf-mutes  more  specifically  express  the  dog  by  snapping 
the  fingers  and  then  patting  the  thigh,  or  by  patting  the-  knee  and  imi 
tating  barking  with  the  lips. 

INSTANCES  OF  PREVALENT  SIGNS. 

Among  the  signs  that  are  found  generally  current  and  nearly,  identical 
may  be  noted  that  for  l/orsc,  made  by  the  fore  and  middle  finger  of  the  right 
hand  placed  by  some  astraddle  of  the  left  forefinger  and  by  others  of  the 
edge  of  the  left  hand,  the  animal  being  considered  at  first  as  only  service 
able  for  riding  and  not  for  draft.  Colonel  DODGE  mentions,  however,  that 
these  signs  are  used  only  by  Indians  to  white  men,  their  ordinary  sign  for 
horse  being  made  by  drawing  the  right  hand  from  left  to  right  across  the 
body  about  the  heart,  all  the  fingers  being  closed  excepting  the  index.  It 


HORSE— SAME— HE— SURPRISE— SUN.  29 

is  to  be  observed  that  this  sign  has  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  one  given 
above  by  Captain  BURTON  for  dof/,  and  may  have  reference  to  the  girth.  It 
is  still  more  easily  confused  with  Captain  BURTON'S  "think,  guess".  The 
French  deaf-mutes  add  to  the  straddling  of  the  index  the  motion  of  a  trot. 
The  Utes  have  a  special  sign  for  liorsc — the  first  and  little  fingers  of  the 
right  hand,  palm  down,  extended  forward,  the  balls  of  the  remaining  fingers 
falling  down  and  resting  npon  the  end  of  the  thumb,  presenting  a  sugges 
tion  of  the  animal's  head  and  ears.  Our  deaf-mutes  indicate  the  ears,  fol 
lowed  by  straddling  the  left  hand  by  the  fore  and  middle  fingers  of  the  right. 

Senile,  similar,  is  made  not  only  among  our  tribes  generally,  but  by  those 
all  over  the  world,  and  by  deaf-mutes,  by  extending  the  two  forefingers 
together  side  bv  side,  backs  upward,  sometimes  moved  together  slightly 
forward.  AVhen  held  at  rest  in  this  position,  companion  and  the  tie  of  fel 
lowship,  what  in  days  of  chivalry  was  styled  "  brothers  in  arms,"  can  be 
indicated,  and,  as  a  derivative  also,  husland.  The  French  and  American 
deaf-mutes  use  this  sign,  preceded  by  one  showing  the  sex,  for  "brother" 
or  "sister." 

The  most  remarkable  variant  from  the  sign  as  above  described  which  is 
reported  to  be  used  by  our  Indians,  is  as  follows:  Extend  the  fore  and  mid 
dle  finger  of  the  right  hand,  pointing  upward,  thumb  crossed  over  the  other 
fingers,  which  are  closed.  Move  the  hand  downward  and  forward.  (Dorse//  ) 

An  opposition  to  the  more  common  sign  above  mentioned  is  given, 
though  not  generally  reported,  for  Jie,  or  another  person,  by  placing  one 
straight  forefinger  over  the  other,  nearly  touching,  and  then  separated 
with  a  moderately  rapid  motion.  (Dunbar.)  The  deaf-mutes  for  "he"  point 
the  thumb  over  the  right  shoulder. 

The  principal  motion  for  surprise,  wonder,  consists  in  placing  the  right 
hand  before  the  mouth,  which  is  open,  or  supposed  so  to  be — a  gesture 
seemingly  involuntary  with  us,  and  which  also  appears  in  the  Egyptian 
hieroglyphs. 

The  general  sign  for  sun,  when  it  is  given  as  distinguished  from  day — 
made  by  forming  a  circle  with  the  thumb  and  forefinger  raised  to  the  east 
or  along  the  track  of  the  orb — is  often  abbreviated  by  simply  crooking  the 
elevated  forefinger  into  an  arc  of  a  circle,  which  would  more  naturally  be 


30  MOON— XK1IIT—  INQTIRY. 

interpreted  as  the  orescent  moon.  Tt  appears  that  some  tribes  that  retain 
the  full  descriptive  circle  for  the  sun  do  form  a  distinguishing  crescent  for 
the  moon,  but  with  the  thumb  and  forefinger,  and  for  greater  discrimination 
precede  it  with  the  sign  for  nif/Jit.  An  interesting  variant  of  the  sign  for 
mm  is,  however,  reported  as  follows:  The  partly  bent  forefinger  and  thumb 
of  the  right  hand  are  brought  together  at  their  tips  so  as  to  represent  a 
circle:  and  with  these  digits  next  to  the  face,  the  hand  is  held  up  toward  the 
sky  from  one  to  two  feet  from  the  eye  and  in  such  a  manner  that  the  glance 
may  be  directed  through  the  opening.  {Matthews.}  The  same  authority 
gives  the  sign  for  "moon"  as  that  for  "sun,"  except  that  the  tips  of  the  finger 
and  thumb,  instead  of  being  opposed,  are  approximated  so  as  to  represent  a 
crescent.  This  is  not  preceded  by  the  sign  for  niyltt,  which,  with  some 
occasional  additions,  is  the  crossing  of  both  horizontally  outspread  palms, 
right  above  left,  in  front  of  the  body,  the  conception  being  covering,  shade, 
and  consequent  obscurity.  With  a  slight  differentiation,  darkness  is  repre 
sented,  and  with  another,  forget,  forgotten,  that  is,  darkness  in  the  memory. 

In</niri/,  <ji«'xtif»i.   What?     Which?     When? 

This  is  generally  denoted  by  the  right  hand  held  upward,  palm  upward, 
and  directed  toward  the  person  interrogated,  and  rotated  two  or  three  times 
edgewise.  When  this  motion  is  made,  as  among  some  tribes,  with  the  thumb 
near  the  face,  it  might  be  mistaken  for  the  derisive,  vulgar  gesture  called 
"taking  a  sight,"  "donner  un  pied  do  nez,"  descending  to  our  small  boys 
from  antiquity.  The  separate  motion  of  the  fingers  in  the  vulgar  gesture 
as  used  in  our  eastern  cities  is,  however,  more  nearly  correlated  with  the 
Indian  sign  for  fool  It  may  be  noted  that  the  Latin  "sagax,"  from  which 
is  derived  "sagacity,"  was  chiefly  used  to  denote  the  keen  scent  of  dogs,  so 
there  is  a  relation  established  between  the  nasal  organ  and  wisdom  or  its 
absence,  and  that  ''suspendere  naso"  was  a  classic  phrase  for  hoaxing.  The 
Italian  expressions  "restare  con  un  palmo  di  naso,"  "con  tanto  di  naso'," 
&c.,  mentioned  by  the  Canon  DE  JORIO,  refer  to  the  same  vulgar  gesture  in 
which  the  face  is  supposed  to  be  thrust  forward  sillily.  The  same  rotation 
upon  the  wrist,  with  the  index  and  middle  finger  diverged  over  the  heart, 
among  our  Indians  means  specifically  uncertainty,  indecision,  "more  than  one 
heart  for  a  purpose,"  and  a  variant  of  it  appears  in  one  of  the  signs  for  "7 


1NQU [  RY— FOOL— NO.  3  I 

don1 1  know."  The  special  inquiry  "  Do  you  know?"  is  reported  as  follows  : 
Shako  the  right  hand  in  front  of  the  face,  a  little  to  the  right,  the  whole  arm 
elevated  so  as  to  throw  the  hand  even  with  the  face  and  the  forearm  stand 
ing  almost  perpendicular;  principal  motion  with  hand,  slight  motion  of 
forearm,  palm  outward.  (Deffenlxtufjli.) 

The  Indian  sign  for  "inquiry"  is  far  superior  to  that  of  the  French 
deaf-mutes,  which  is  the  part  of  the  French  shrug  with  the  hunched  shoulders 
omitted. 

A  sign  for  a  special  form  of  inquiry  as  to  the  tribe  to  which  the  person 
addressed  belongs  is  to  pass  the  right  hand  from  left  to  right  across  the  face, 
which  is  answered  by  the  appropriate  tribal  sign.  (Poicell.} 

Instead  of  a  direct  question  the  Utes  in  sign-conversation  use  a  negative 
form,  e.  y.,  to  ask  "Where  is  your  mother?"  would  be  rendered  "Mother— 
your — I — see — not." 

Fool,  foolish.  The  prevailing  gesture  is  a  finger  pointed  to  the  forehead 
and  rotated  circularly — "rattle-brained."  The  only  reported  variance  is 
where  the  sign  for  "man"  is  followed  by  shaking  the  fingers  held  down 
ward,  without  reference  to  the  head — the  idea  of  looseness  simply.  French 
deaf-mutes  shake  the  hands  above  the  head  after  touching  it  with  the  index. 
No,  negative.  The  right  hand — though  in  the  beginning  of  the  sign 
held  in  various  positions — is  generally  either  waved  before  the  face  (which 
is  the  sign  of  our  deaf-mutes  for  emphatic  negative),  as  if  refusing  to  accept 
the  idea  or  statement  presented,  or  pushed  sidewise  to  the  right  from  either 
the  breast  or  face,  as  if  dismissing  it  or  setting  it  aside  One  of  the  signs 
given  for  the  Pah- Utes  by  NATSIIES  of  oscillating  the  index  before  the  face 
from  right  to  left  is  substantially  the  same  as  one  reported  from  Naples  by  DE 
JORIO.  This  maybe  compared  with  our  shaking  of  the  head  in  denial;  but 
that  gesture  is  not  so  universal  in  the  Old  World  as  is  popularly  supposed, 
for  the  ancient  Greeks,  followed  by  the  modern  Turks  and  rustic  Italians, 
threw  the  head  back,  instead  of  shaking  it,  for  No.  A  sign  differing  from 
all  the  above  is  by  making  a  quick  motion  of  the  open  hand  from  the  mouth 
forward,  palm  toward  mouth.  (Deffenbaugh.)  The  Egyptian  negative  linear 
hieroglyph  is  clearly  the  gesture  of  both  hands,  palms  down,  waved  apart 
horizontally  and  apparently  at  the  level  of  the  elbow,  between  which 


32  LIE— TKUTII— OFFSPRING. 

and  the  Maya  negative  particle  "ma"  given  by  LANDA  there  is  a  strong 
coincidence. 

Lie,  faht'liooil,  is  almost  universally  expressed  by  some  figurative  varia 
tion  on  the  generic  theme  of  a  forked  or  double  tongue — "two  different 
stories" — in  which  the  first  two  fingers  on  the  right  hand  separate  from  the 
mouth.  One  reported  sign  precedes  the  latter  motion  by  the  right  hand 
touching  the  breast  over  the  heart.  (Hoffman.}  Another  instance  given, 
however,  is  when  the  index  is  extended  from  the  two  corners  of  the  mouth 
successively.  (E«/y.')  Still  another  is  by  passing  the  hand  from  right  to 
left  close  by  and  across  the  month,  with  the  first  two  fingers  of  the  hand 
opened,  thumb  and  other  fingers  closed.  (Dotlye ;  NdtsJiCfi.')  A  further  variant 
employed  by  the  Utes  is  made  by  closing  the  right  hand  and  placing  the  tips 
of  the  first  two  fingers  upon  the  ball  of  the  extended  thumb,  and  snapping 
them  forward  straight  and  separated  while  passing-  the  hand  from  the  month 
forward  and  to  the  left.  In  the  same  tribe  the  index  is  more  commonly 
moved,  held  straight  upward  and  forward,  alternately  toward  the  left  and 
right  front.  "  Talk  two  ways."  Truth,  true,  is  naturally  contradistinguished 
by  the  use  of  a  single  finger,  the  index,  pointing  straight  from  the  mouth 
forward  and  sometimes  upward — "One  tongue;  speech  straight  to  the  front; 
no  talk  behind  a  man."  Sometimes,  however,  the  breast  is  the  initial  point, 
as  in  the  French  deaf-mute  sign  for  "sincere."  The  deaf-mutes  also  gesture 
"truth"  by  moving  one  finger  straight  from  the  lips — "straight-forward 
speaking" — but  distinguish  "lie"  by  moving  the  finger  to  one  side — "side 
ways  speaking." 

Offspring  or  descendant,  child  in  filial  relation— not  simply  as  young 
humanity — is  generally  denoted  by  a  slightly  varied  dumb  show  of  issu 
ance  from  the  loins,  the  line  traced  sometimes  showing  a  close  diagnosis  of 
parturition.  This  is  particularly  noticeable  in  the  following  description: 
Place  the  left  hand  in  front  of  the  body,  a  little  to  the  right,  the  palm 
downward  and  slightly  arched  ;  pass  the  extended  right  hand  downward, 
forward,  and  upward,  forming  a  short  curve  underneath  the  left.  (Hoffman.} 
The  sign,  with  additions,  means  "father,"  "mother,"  "grandparent,"  but  its 
expurgated  form  among  the  French  deaf-mutes  means  "parentage"  gerier- 
ically,  for  which  term  there  is  a  special  sign  reported  from  our  Indians  by 


POSSESSION— STEAL— TRADE.  33 

only  one  authority,  viz:  Place  the  hand  bowl-shaped  over  the  right  breast, 
as  if  grasping  a  pap.  (Dodge.)  It  is  not  understood  how  this  can  be  distin 
guished  from  one  of  the  signs  above  mentioned  for  "woman." 

Possession,  mine,  my  property.  The  essential  of  this  common  sign  is 
clinching  the  right  hand  held  at  the  level  of  the  head  and  moving  it  gently 
forward,  clearly  the  grasping  and  display  of  property.  None  of  the  deaf- 
mute  signs  to  express  "  possession,  ownership,"  known  to  the  writer,  resem 
ble  this  or  are  as  graphic.  Our  deaf-mutes  press  an  imaginary  object  to 
the  breast  Avith  the  right  hand. 

Steal.  The  prevalent  delineation  is  by  holding  the  left  arm  horizontally 
across  the  body  and  seizing  from  under  the  left  fist  an  imaginary  object 
with  the  right  hand  (Burton),  implying  concealment  and  the  transportation 
that  forms  part  of  the  legal  definition  of  larceny.  This  sign  is  also  made 
by  our  deaf-mutes.  Sometimes  the  fingers  of  the  right  hand  are  hooked, 
as  if  grabbing  or  tearing.  (TitchJtemdtski.)  Another  sign  is  reported  in 
which  the  left  arm  is  partly  extended  and  held  horizontally  so  that  the  left 
hand  will  be  palm  downward,  a  foot  or  so  in  front  of  the  chest.  Then, 
with  the  right  hand  in  front,  a  motion  is  made  as  if  something  were  grasped 
deftly  in  the  fingers  and  carried  rapidly  along  under  the  left  arm  to  the 
axilla.  (Matthews.)  The  specialty  of  horse-theft  is  indicated  by  the  panto 
mime  of  cutting  a  lariat.  (Burton.) 

Trade,  barter,  exchange,  is  very  commonly  denoted  by  a  sign  the  root 
of  which  is  the  movement  of  the  two  fiat  hands  or  the  two  forefingers  past 
each  other,  so  that  one  takes  the  place  before  held  by  the  other,  the  exact 
conceit  of  exchange.  One  description  is  as  follows:  The  hands,  backs  for- 
ward,  are  held  as  index-hands  pointing  upward,  the  elbows  being  fully 
bent.  Each  hand  is  then  simultaneously  with  the  other,  moved  to  the 
opposite  shoulder,  so  that  the  forearms  cross  one  another  almost  at  right 
angles.  (Matthews.)  Another:  Pass  the  hands  in  front  of  the  body  at  the 
height  of  the  waist,  all  fingers  closed  except  the  index-fingers.  (Deffen- 
baiiffh.)  This  is  also  made  by  the  Comanches  (Ilaworth),  Bannocks,  and 
Umatillas.  (Ndtshcs.)  Another  instance  is  reported  where  the  first  two  fin 
gers  of  the  right  hand  cross  those  of  the  left,  both  being  slightly  spread. 
(Hoffman.)  Our  deaf-mutes  use  the  same  gesture  as  first  above  mentioned 

.'5  s  i, 

/       ^      OF    THE 

'.;>;!VERS»TY 

CF 


34  SIGNS  HAVING   SI'ECiAL  INTEREST. 

with  tlie  hands  closed.  An  invitation  to  a  general  or  systematic  barter  or 
trade,  as  distinct  from  one  transaction,  is  expressed  by  repeated  taps  or  the 
use  of  more  fingers.  The  rough  resemblance  of  this  sign  to  that  for  "  cut 
ting"  lias  occasioned  mistakes  as  to  its  origin.  It  is  reported  by  Captain 
BURTON  as  the  conception  of  one  smart  trader  cutting  into  the  profits  of 
another — "diamond  cut  diamond."  The  trade  sign  is,  on  the  plains,  often 
used  to  express  the  white  man — vocally  named  Shwop — a  legacy  from  the 
traders,  who  were  the  first  Caucasians  met.  Generally,  however,  the  ges 
ture  for  trliifc  man  is  by  designating  the  hat  or  head-covering  of  civilization. 
This  the  French  deaf-mutes  apply  to  all  wen,  as  distinct  from  women. 

INSTANCES   OE    SKINS    HAVING    SPECIAL   INTEREST. 

A  few  signs  have  been  selected  which  are  not  remarkable  either  for 
general  or  limited  acceptance,  but  are  of  interest  from  special  conception 
or  peculiar  figuration. 

The  relation  of  brothers,  sisters,  and  of  brother  and  sister,  children  of 
the  same  mother,  is  signified  by  putting  the  two  first  finger  tips  in  the 
mouth,  denoting  the  nourishment  taken  from  the  same  breast.  (IhirtoH  ; 
Jhrsei/.)  One  of  the  signs  for  child  or  infant  is  to  place  the  thumb  and  fin 
gers  of  the  right  hand  against  the  lips,  then  drawing  them  away  and  bringing 
the  right  hand  against  the  left  fore-arm,  as  if  holding  an  infant.  (Dtntbtir.') 
The  Cistercian  monks,  vowed  to  silence,  and  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphers, 
notably  in  the  designation  of  Ilorus,  their  dawn-god,  used  the  •finger  in  or 
on  the  lips  for  "child."  It  has  been  conjectured  in  the  last  instance  that 
the  gesture  implied,  not  the  mode  of  taking  nourishment,  but  inability  to 
speak— in-fans.  This  conjecture,  however,  was  only  made  to  explain  the 
blunder  of  the  Greeks,  who  saw  in  the  hand  placed  connected  with  the 
month  in  the  hieroglyph  of  Ilorus  (the)  son,  "  IIor-(p)-chrot,"  the  gesture 
familiar  to  themselves  of  a  finger  on  the  lips  to  express  "silence,"  and  so  mis 
taking  both  the  name  and  the  characterization,  invented  the  God  of  Silence, 
Ilarpokrates.  A  careful  examination  of  all  the  linear  hieroglyphs  given  by 
CIIAMPOLLION  (Dictionnaire  Egyptien),  shows  that  the  finger  or  the  hand  to 
the  mouth  of  an  adult  (whose  posture  is  always  distinct  from  that  of  a  child) 
is  always  in  connection  with  the  positive  ideas  of  voice,  mouth,  speech, 


DESTROYED— DONE— GLAD— DISCONTENT.  35 

writing,  eating1,  drinking,  &c.,  and  never  with  the  negative  idea  of  silence. 
The  special  character  for  "child"  always  has  the  above-mentioned  part  of 
the  sign  with  reference  to  nourishment  from  the  breast.  An  uninstructed 
deaf-mute,  as  related  by  Mr.  Denison  of  the  Columbia  Institution,  invented, 
to  express  "  sister,"  first  the  sign  for  "  female,"  made  by  the  half-closed 
hands  with  the  ends  of  fingers  touching  the  breasts,  followed  by  the  index 
in  the  mouth. 

Destroyed,  all  gone,  no  more. 

The  hands  held  horizontal  and  the  palms  rubbed  together  two  or  three 
times  circularly;  the  right  hand  is  then  carried  off  from  the  other  in  a  short 
horizontal  curve.  (Long.)  "  Rubbed  out."  This  resembles  the  Edinburgh 
and  our  deaf-mute  sign  for  "forgive"  or  "clemency,"  the  rubbing  out  of 
offense.  Several  shades  of  meaning  under  this  head  arc  designated  by 
varying  gestures  "If  something  of  little  importance  has  been  destroyed  by 
accident  or  design,  the  fact  is  communicated  by  indicating  the  thing  spokca 
of,  and  then  slightly  striking  the  palms  and  open  fingers  of  the  hands 
together,  as  if  brushing  dust  off  of  them.  If  something  has  been  destroyed 
by  force  the  sign  is  as  if  breaking  a  stick  in  the  two  hands,  throwing  the 
pieces  away,  and  then  dusting  the  hands  as  before.  The  amount  of  force 
iised  and  the  completeness  of  the  destruction  are  shown  by  greater  or  less 
vigor  of  action  and  facial  expression."  (Dodge.} 

Done,  finished.  The  hands  placed  edges  up  and  down,  parallel  to  each 
other,  right  hand  outward,  which  is  drawn  back  as  if  cutting  something. 
(Dunbar.)  An  end  left  after  cutting  is  suggested ;  perhaps  our  colloquial 
"  cut  short."  The  French  and  our  deaf-mutes  give  a  cutting  motion  down 
ward,  with  the  right  hand  at  a  right  angle  to  the  left. 

Glad,  pleased,  content.  Wave  the  open  hand  outward  from  the  breast 
(Burton),  to  express  heart  at  ease — "bosom's  lord  sits  lightly  on  its  throne." 
Another  gesture,  perhaps  noting  a  higher  degree  of  happiness,  is  to  raise 
the  right  hand  from  the  breast  in  serpentine  curves  to  above  the  head. 
(Wicd.)  "Heart  beats  high."  Another:  Extend  both  hands  outward, 
palms  turned  downward,  and  make  a  sign  exactly  similar  to  the  way  women 
smooth  a  bed  in  making  it.  (Holt.)  "  Smooth  and  easy." 

Dissatisfaction,  discontent,  is  naturally  contrasted  by  holding  the  index 


3f>  HIDE— PEACE— STONE— FKISONER. 

transversely  before  the  heart  and  rotating-  the  wrist  several  times,  indicat 
ing  disturbance  of  the  organ,  which  our  aborigines,  like  modern  Europeans, 
poetically  regard  as  the  seat  of  the  affections  and  emotions,  not  selecting 
the  liver  or  stomach  as  other  peoples  have  done  with  greater  physiological 
reason. 

To  hide,  conceal,  is  graphically  portrayed  by  placing  the  right  hand 
inside  the  clothing  of  the  left  breast,  or  covering  the  right  hand,  ringers 
hooked,  by  the  left,  which  is  ilat,  palm  downward,  and  held  near  the  body. 
The  same  gestures  mean  "  xccrct." 

Peace,  or  friendship,  is  sometimes  shown  by  placing  the  tips  of  the  two 
first  lingers  of  the  right  hand  against  the  mouth  and  elevated  upward  and 
outward  to  mimic  the  expulsion  of  smoke — "  we  two  smoke  together." 
(TitchJccmdtsJii.)  It  is  also  often  rendered  by  the  joined  right  and  left 
hands,  the  fingers  being  sometimes  interlocked,  but  others  simply  hook 
the  two  forefingers  together.  Our  deaf-mutes  interlock  the  forefingers  for 
"friendship,"  clasp  the  hands,  right  uppermost,  for  "marriage,"  and  make 
the  last  sign,  repeated  with  the  left  hand  uppermost,  for  "peace."  The 
idea  of  union  or  linking  is  obvious.  It  is,  however,  noticeable  that  while 
this  ceremonial  gesture  is  common  and  ancient,  the  practice  of  shaking 
hands  on  meeting,  now  the  annoying  etiquette  of  the  Indians  in  their  inter 
course  with  whites,  was  never  used  by  them  between  each  other,  and  is 
clearly  a  foreign  importation.  Their  fancy  for.  affectionate  greeting  was  in 
giving  a  pleasant  bodily  sensation  by  rubbing  each  other's  breasts,  arms, 
and  stomachs.  The  senseless  and  inconvenient  custom  of  shaking  hands  is, 
indeed,  by  no  means  general  throughout  the  world,  and  in  the  extent  to 
which  it  prevails  in  the  United  States  is  a  matter  of  national  opprobrium. 

The  profession  of  peace,  coupled  ivitli  invitation,  is  often  made  from  a 
distance  by  the  acted  spreading  of  a  real  or  imaginary  robe  or  blanket — 
"  come  and  sit  down." 

The  sign  for  stone  has  an  archaeological  significance — the  right  fist 
being  struck  repeatedly  upon  the  left  palm,  as  would  be  instinctive  when  a 
stone  was  the  only  hammer. 

Prisoner  is  a  graphic  picture.  The  forefinger  and  thumb  of  the  left 
hand  are  held  in  the  form  of  a  semicircle  opening  toward  and  near  the 


CONCLUSION  PRESENTED.  37 

breast,  and  the  right  forefinger,  representing  the  prisoner,  is  placed  upright 
within  the  curve  and  passed  from  one  side  to  another,  in  order  to  show  that 
it  is  not  permitted  to  pass  out.  (Lo»r/.) 

Soft  is  ingeniously  expressed  by  first,  striking  the  open  left  hand  sev 
eral  times  with  the  back  of  the  right,  and  then  striking  with  the  right  the 
back  of  the  left,  restoring  the  supposed  yielding  substance  to  its  former 
shape. 

Without  further  multiplying  examples,  the  conclusion  is  presented  that 
the  gesture-signs  among  our  Indians  show  no  uniformity  in  detail,  the 
variety  in  expression  among  them  and  in  their  comparison  with  those  of 
deaf-mutes  and  transatlantic  mimes  being  in  itself  of  psychological  interest, 
The  generalization  of  TYLOR  that  "  gesture-language  is  substantially  the 
same  among  savage  tribes  all  over  the  world"  must  be  understood,  indeed 
would  be  so  understood  from  his  renmrks  in  another  connection,  as  refer 
ring  to  their  common  use  of  signs  and  of  signs  formed  on  the  same  prin 
ciples,  but,  not  of  the  same  signs  to  express  the  same  ideas,  even  "substan 
tially,"  however  indefinitely  that  dubious  adverb  may  be  used. 

GESTURE  -SPEECH  UNIVERSAL   AS  AX  ART. 

The  attempt  to  convey  meaning  by  signs  is,  however,  universal  among  the 
Indians  of  the  plains,  and  those  still  comparatively  unchanged  by  civiliza 
tion,  as  is  its  successful  execution  as  an  art,  which,  however  it  may  have 
commenced  as  an  instinctive  mental  process,  has  been  cultivated,  and  con 
sists  in  actually  pointing  out  objects  in  sight  not  only  for  designation,  but 
for  application  and  predication,  and  in  suggesting  others  to  the  mind  by 
action  and  the  airy  forms  produced  by  action. 

In  no  other  part  of  the  thoroughly  explored  world  has  there  been 
spread  over  so  vast  a  space  so  small  a  number  of  individuals  divided  by 
so  many  linguistic  and  dialectic  boundaries  as  in  North  America.  Many 
wholly  distinct  tongues  have  for  a  long  indefinite  time  been  confined  to  a 
few  scores  of  speakers,  verbally  incomprehensible  to  all  others  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  who  did  not,  from  some  rarely  operating  motive,  laboriously 
acquire  their  language.  Even  when  the  American  race,  so  styled,  flourished 
in  the  greatest  population  of  which  we  have  any  evidence  (at  least  accord- 


38  SIGN-LANGUAGE  AS  AN  INDIAN  ART. 

ing  to  the  published  views  of  the  present  writer,  which  seem  to  have  been 
favorably  received),  the  immense  number  of  languages  and  dialects  still  pre 
served,  or  known  by  early  recorded  fragments  to  have  once  existed,  so  sub 
divided  it  that  but  the  dwellers  in  a  very  few  villages  could  talk  together 
with  ease,  and  all  were  iuterdistributed  among  unresponsive  vernaculars, 
each  to  the  other  being  bar-bar-ous  in  every  meaning  of  the  term.  It  is, 
however,  noticeable  that  the  three  great  families  of  Iroquois,  Algonkin,  and 
Muskoki,  when  met  by  their  first  visitors,  do  not  appear  to  have  often  im 
pressed  the  latter  with  their  reliance  upon  gesture-language  to  the  same 
extent  as  has  always  been  reported  of  the  aborigines  now  and  formerly 
found  farther  inland.  If  this  absence  of  report  arose  from  the  absence  of 
the  practice  and  not  from  imperfection  of  observation,  an  explanation  may 
be  suggested  from  the  fact  that  among  those  families  there  were  more 
people  dwelling  near  together  in  sociological  communities,  of  the  same 
speech,  though  with  dialectic  peculiarities,  than  became  known  later  in  the 
later  West,  and  not  being  nomadie,  their  intercourse  with  strange  tribes 
was  less  individual  and  conversational. 

The  use  of  gesture-signs,  continued,  if  not  originating,  in  necessity  for 
communication  with  the  outer  world,  became  entribally  convenient  from  the 
habits  of  hunters,  the  main  occupation  of  all  savages,  depending  largely 
iil)on  stealthy  approach  to  game,  and  from  the  sole  form  of  their  military 
tactics — to  surprise  an  enemy.  In  the  still  expanse  of  virgin  forests,  and 
especially  in  the  boundless  solitudes  of  the  great  plains,  a  slight  sound  can 
be  heard  over  a  vast  area,  that  of  the  human  voice  being  from  its  rarity  the 
most  startling,  so  that  it  is  now,  as  it  probably  has  been  for  centuries,  a 
common  precaution  for  members  of  a  hunting  or  war  party  not  to  speak 
together  when  on  such  expeditions,  communicating  exclusively  by  signs. 
The  acquired  habit  also  exhibits  itself  not  only  in  formal  oratory,  but  in 
impassioned  or  emphatic  conversation. 

This  domestic  as  well  as  foreign  exercise  for  generations  in  the  gesture- 
language  has  naturally  produced  great  skill  both  in  expression  and  reception, 
so  as  to  be  measurably  independent  of  any  prior  mutual  understanding,  or 
what  in  a  system  of  signals  is  called  preconcert.  Two  accomplished  army 
signalists  etui,  after  sufficient  trial,  communicate  without  either  of  them  learn- 


LJ  H  U  A  K*  1 

I*  N  I  V  K  US  I  TV    OF 


RESULT  JN  MUTUAL  UNDERSTANDING.  39 

in«>-  the  code  in  which  the  oilier  was  educated  and  which  lie  had  before  prac- 

O  A 

ticed,  one  being  mutually  devised  for  the  occasion,  and  those  specially  designed 
for  secrecy  are  often  deciphered.  So,  if  any  one  of  the  more  approximately 
conventional  signs  is  not  quickly  comprehended,  an  Indian  skilled  in  the 
principle  of  signs  resorts  to  another  expression  of  his  flexible  art,  perhaps 
reproducing  the  gesture  unabbreviated  and  made  more  graphic;,  perhaps 
presenting  either  the  same  or  another  conception  or  quality  of  the  same 
object  or  idea  by  an  original  portraiture.  The  same  tribe  has,  indeed,  in 
some  instances,  as  appears  by  the  collected  lists,  a  choice  already  furnished 
by  tradition  or  importation,  or  recent  invention  or  all  together,  of  several 
signs  for  the  same  thought-object.  Thus  there  are  produced  synonyms  as 
well  as  dialects  in  sign-language. 

The  general  result  is  that  two  intelligent  mimes  seldom  fail  of  mutual 
understanding,  their  attention  being  exclusively  directed  to  the  expression 
of  thoughts  by  the  means  of  comprehension  and  reply  equally  possessed  by 
both,  without  the  mental  confusion  of  conventional  sounds  only  intelligible 
to  one.  The  Indians  who  have  been  shown  over  the  civilized  East  have  also 
often  succeeded  in  holding  intercourse,  by  means  of  their  invention  and 
application  of  principles,  in  what  may  be  called  the  voiceless  mother  utter 
ance,  with  white  deaf-mutes,  who  surely  have  no  semiotic  code  more  nearly 
connected  with  that  attributed  to  the  plain-roamers  than  is  derived  from 
their  common  humanity.  When  they  met  together  they  were  found  to  pur 
sue  the  same  course  as  that  noticed  at  the  meeting  together  of  deaf-mutes 
who  were  either  not  instructed  in  any  methodical  dialect  or  who  had  received 
such  instruction  by  different  methods.  They  seldom  agreed  in  the  signs  at 
first  presented,  but  soon  understood  them,  and  finished  by  adopting  some 
in  mutual  compromise,  which  proved  to  be  those  most  strikingly  appro 
priate,  graceful,  and  convenient,  but  there  still  remained  in  some  cases  a 
plurality  of  fitting  signs  for  the  same  idea  or  object.  On  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  these  occasions,  at  the  Pennsylvania  Institution  for  the  Deaf 
and  Dumb,  in  1873,  it  was  remarked  that  the  signs  of  the  deaf-mutes  were 
much  more  readily  understood  by  the  Indians,  who  were  Absaroki  or 
Crows,  Arapahos,  and  Cheyennes,  than  were  theirs  by  the  deaf-mutes,  and 
that  the  latter  greatly  excelled  in  pantomimic  effect.  This  need  not  be  sur- 


40  INDIANS  CONVERSING   WITH  DEAF-MUTES. 

prising  when  it  is  considered  that  what  is  to  the  Indian  a  mere  adjunct  or 
accomplishment  is  to  the  deaf-mute  the  natural  mode  of  utterance,  and 
that  there  is  still  greater  freedom  from  the  trammel  of  translating  words 
into  action — instead  of  acting  the  ideas  themselves — when,  the  sound  of 
words  being  unknown,  they  remain  still  as  they  originated,  but  another 
kind  of  sign,  even  after  the  art  of  reading  is  acquired,  and  do  not  become 
entities  as  with  us. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  Indians  when  brought  to  the  East  have 
shown  the  greatest  pleasure  in  meeting  deaf-mutes,  precisely  as  travelers 
in  a  foreign  country  are  rejoiced  to  meet  persons  speaking  their  language, 
with  whom  they  can  hold  direct  communication  without  the  tiresome  and 
often  suspected  medium  of  an  interpreter.  A  Sandwich  Islander,  a  Chi 
nese,  and  the  Africans  from  the  slaver  Amistad  have,  in  published  instances, 
visited  our  deaf-mute  institutions  with  the  same  result  of  free  and  pleasura 
ble  intercourse,  and  an  English  deaf-mute  had  no  difficulty  in  conversing 
with  Laplanders.  It  appears,  also,  on  the  authority  of  SIIJSCOTA,  whose 
treatise  was  published  in  1670,  that  Cornelius  Ilaga,  ambassador  of  the 
United  Provinces  to  the  Sublime  Porte,  found  the  Sultan's  mutes  to  have 
established  a  language  among  themselves  in  which  they  could  discourse 
with  a  speaking  interpreter,  a  degree  of  ingenuity  interfering  with  the 
object  of  their  selection  as  slaves  unable  to  repeat  conversation. 

SUGGESTIONS  TO  OBSERVERS. 

The  most  important  suggestion  to  persons  interested  in  the  collection 
of  signs  is  that  they  shall  not  too  readily  abandon  the  attempt  to  discover 
recollections  of  them  even  among  tribes  long  exposed  to  Caucasian  influence 
and  officially  segregated  from  others. 

During  the  last  week  a  missionary  wrote  that  he  was  concluding  a  con 
siderable  vocabulary  of  signs  finally  procured  from  the  Ponkas,  although 
after  residing  among  them  for  years,  with  thorough  familiarity  with  their 
language,  and  after  special  and  intelligent  exertion  to  obtain  some  of  their 
disused  gesture-language,  he  had  two  months  ago  reported  it  to  be  entirely 
forgotten.  A  similar  report,  was  made  by  two  missionaries  among  the 
Ojibwas,  though  other  trustworthy  authorities  have  furnished  a  list  of  signs 


SURVIVAL  IN  CONVERSATIONAL  GESTURES.  41 

obtained  from  that  tribe.  Further  discouragement  came  from  an  Indian 
agent  giving  the  decided  statement,  after  four  years  of  intercourse  with  the 
Pah-Utes,  that  no  such  thing  as  a  communication  by  signs  was  known  or 
even  remembered  by  them,  which,  however,  was  less  difficult  to  bear  because 
on  the  day  of  the  receipt  of  that  well-intentioned  missive  some  officers  of 
the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  were  actually  talking  in  signs  witli  a  delegation 
of  that  very  tribe  of  Indians  then  in  Washington,  from  one  of  whom  the 
Story  hereinafter  appearing  was  received.  The  difficulty  in  collecting  signs 
may  arise  because  Indians  are  often  provokingly  reticent  about  their  old 
habits  and  traditions;  because  they  do  not  distinctly  comprehend  what  is 
sought  to  be  obtained,  and  because  sometimes  the  art,  abandoned  in  gen 
eral,  only  remains  in  the  memories  of  a  few  persons  influenced  by  special 
circumstances  or  individual  fancy. 

In  this  latter  regard  a  comparison  may  be  made  with  the  old  science 
of  heraldry,  once  of  practical  use  and  a  necessary  part  of  a  liberal  educa 
tion,  of  which  hardly  a  score  of  persons  in  the  United  States  have  any  but 
the  vague  knowledge  that  it  once  existed;  yet  the  united  memories  of  those 
persons  could,  in  the  absence  of  records,  reproduce  all  essential  points  on 
the  subject. 

Even  when  the  specific  practice  of  the  sign-language  has  been  generally 
discontinued  for  more  than  one  generation,  either  from  the  adoption  of  a 
jargon  or  from  the  common  use  of  the  tongue  of  the  conquering  English, 
French,  or  Spanish,  some  of  the  gestures  formerly  employed  as  substitutes 
for  words  may  survive  as  a  customary  accompaniment  to  oratory  or  impas 
sioned  conversation,  and,  when  ascertained,  should  be  carefully  noted.  An 
example,  among  many,  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  now  civilized 
Muskoki  or  Creeks,  as  mentioned  by  Rev.  H.  F.  BUCKNER,  when  speaking 
of  the  height  of  children  or  women,  illustrate  their  words  by  holding  their 
hands  at  the  proper  elevation,  palm  up;  but  when  describing  the  height  of 
"soulless"  animals  or  inanimate  objects,  they  hold  the  palm  downward. 
This,  when  correlated  with  the  distinctive  signs  of  other  Indians,  is  an  inter 
esting  case  of  the  survival  of  a  practice  which,  so  far  as  yet  reported,  the 
oldest  men  of  the  tribe  now  living  only  remember  to  have  once  existed. 
It  is  probable  that  a  collection  of  such  distinctive  gestures  among  even  the 


42  ERKOKS  TO  WHICH  COLLECTORS  ARE  LIAHLE. 

most  civilized  Indians  would  reproduce  enough  of  their  ancient  system  to 
be  valuable,  even  if  the  persistent  enquirer  did  not  in  his  search  discover 
some  of  its  surviving  custodians  even  among1  Chahta  or  Cheroki,  Iroquois 
or  Abenaki,  Klamath  or  Xutka. 

Another  recommendation  is  prompted  by  the  fact  that  in  the  collection 
and  description  of  Indian  signs  there  is  danger  lest  the  civilized  understand 
ing  of  the  original  conception  may  lie  mistaken  or  forced.  The  liability  to 
error  is  much  increased  when  the  collections  are  not  taken  directly  from  the 
Indians  themselves,  but  are  given  as  obtained  at  second-hand  from  white 
traders,  trappers,  and  interpreters,  who,  through  misconception  in  the  begin 
ning  and  their  own  introduction  or  modification  of  gestures,  have  produced 
a  jargon  in  the  sign  as  well  as  in  the  oral  intercourse.  If  an  Indian  finds 
that  his  interlocutor  insists  upon  understanding  and  using  a  certain  sign  in 
a  particular  manner,  it  is  within  the  very  nature,  tentative  and  elastic,  of  the 
gesture  art — both  performers  being  on  an  equality— that  he  should  adopt 
the  one  that  seems  to  be  recognized  or  that  is  pressed  upon  him,  as  with 
much  greater  difficulty  he  has  learned  and  adopted  many  foreign  terms  used 
with  whites  before  attempting  to  acquire  their  language,  but  never  with  his 
own  race.  Thus  there  is  now,  and  perhaps  always  has  been,  what  may  be 
called  a  lingua-franca  in  the  sign  vocabulary.  It  may  be  ascertained  that  all 
the  tribes  of  the  plains  having  learned  by  experience  that  white  visitors  expect 
to  receive  certain  signs  really  originating  with  the  latter,  use  them  in  their 
intercourse,  just  as  they  sometimes  do  the  words  "squaw"  and  "papoose," 
corruptions  of  the  Algonkin,  and  once  as  meaningless  in  the  present  West 
as  the  English  terms  "woman"  and  "child,"  but  which  the  first  pioneers, 
having  learned  them  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  insisted  upon  as  generally  intel 
ligible.  This  process  of  adaptation  may  be  one  of  the  explanations  of  the 
reported  universal  code. 

It  is  also  highly  probable  that  signs  will  be  invented  by  individual 
Indians  who  may  be  pressed  by  collectors  for  them  to  express  certain  ideas, 
which  signs  of  course  form  no  part  of  the  current  language;  but  while  that 
fa.ct  should,  if  possible,  be  ascertained  and  reported,  the  signs  so  invented 
are  not  valueless  merely  because  they  arc  original  and  not  traditional,  if 
they  are  made  in  good  faith  and  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  sign- 


INSTANCE  OF  OVEK-ZEAL.  43 

formation.  The  process  resembles  the  coining  of  new  words  to  which  the 
higher  languages  owe  their  copiousness.  It  is  noticed  in  the  signs  invented 
by  Indians  for  each  new  product  of  civilization  brought  to  their  notice. 
Less  error  will  arise  in  this  direction  than  from  the  misinterpretation  of  the 
idea  intended  to  be  conveyed  by  spontaneous  signs. 

The  absurdity  to  which  over-zeal  may  be  exposed  is  illustrated  by  an 
anecdote  found  in  several  versions  and  in  several  languages,  but  repeated 
as  a  veritable  Scotch  legend  bv  Duncan  Anderson,  esq.,  principal  of  the 
Glasgow  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  when  he  visited  Washington 
in  1853. 

King  James  I  of  England  desiring  to  play  a  trick  tipon  the  Spanish 
ambassador,  a  man  of  great  erudition,  but  who  had  a  crotchet  in  his  head 
upon  sign-language,  informed  him  that  there  was  a  distinguished  professor 
of  that  science  in  the  University  at  Aberdeen.  The  ambassador  set  out  for 
that  place,  preceded  by  a  letter  from  the  King  with  instructions  to  make  the 
best  of  him.  There  was  in  the  town  one  Geordy,  a  butcher,  blind  of  one  eye, 
a  fellow  of  much  wit  and  drollery.  Geordy  is  told  to  play  the  part  of  a  pro 
fessor,  with  the  warning  not  to  speak  a  word,  is  gowned,  wigged,  and  placed 
in  a  chair  of  state,  when  the  ambassador  is  shown  in  and  they  are  left 
alone  together.  Presently  the  nobleman  came  out  greatly  pleased  with 
the  experiment,  claiming  that  his  theory  was  demonstrated.  lie  said, 
"  When  I  entered  the  room  I  raised  one  finger,  to  signify  there  is  one  God. 
He  replied  by  raising  two  fingers  to  signify  that  this  Being  rules  over  two 
worlds,  the  material  and  the  spiritual.  Then  I  raised  three  fingers,  to  say 
there  are  three  persons  in  the  Godhead.  lie  then  closed  his  fingers,  evi 
dently  to  say  these  three  are  one."  After  this  explanation  on  the  part  of 
the  nobleman,  the  professors  sent  for  the  butcher  and  asked  him  what 
took  place  in  the  recitation-room.  He  appeared  very  angry  and  said, 
"  When  the  crazy  man  entered  the  room  where  I  was  he  raised  one  finger, 
as  much  as  to  say,  I  had  but  one  eye,  and  I  raised  two  fingers  to  signify 
that  I  could  see  out  of  my  one  eye  as  well  as  he  could  out  of  both  of  his. 
When  he  raised  three  fingers,  as  much  as  to  say  there  were  but  three  eyes 
between  us,  I  doubled  up  my  fist,  and  if  he  had  not  gone  out  of  that  room 
in  a  hurry  I  would  have  knocked  him  down." 


44  SPEECHES  AND  STORIES  DESIRED. 

By  far  the  most  satisfactory  mode  of  securing  accurate  signs  is  to  induce 
the  Indians  to  tell  stories,  make  speeches,  or  hold  talks  in  gesture,  with  one 
of  themselves  as  interpreter  in  his  own  oral  language  if  the  lattei  is  under 
stood  by  the  observer,  and  if  not,  the  words,  not  the  signs,  should  be  trans 
lated  by  an  intermediary  white  interpreter.  It  will  be  easy  afterward  to 
dissect,  and  separate  the  particular  signs  used.  This  mode  will  determine 
the  genuine  shade  of  meaning  of  each  sign,  and  corresponds  with  the  plan 
now  adopted  by  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  for  the  study  of  the  aboriginal 
vocal  languages,  instead  of  that  arising  out  of  exclusively  missionary  pur 
poses,  which  was  to  force  a  translation  of  the  Bible  from  a  tongue  not 
adapted  to  its  terms  and  ideas,  and  then  to  compile  a  grammar  and  dic 
tionary  from  the  artificial  result.  A  little  ingenuity  will  direct  the  more 
intelligent  or  complaisant  gesturers  to  the  expression  of  the  thoughts,  signs 
for  which  are  specially  sought ;  and  full  orderly  descriptions  of  such  tales 
and  talks  with  or  even  without  analysis  and  illustration  are  more  desired 
than  any  other  form  of  contribution.  No  such  descriptions  of  any  value 
have  been  found  in  print,  and  the  best  one  thus  far  obtained  through  the 
correspondence  of  the  present  writer  is  given  below,  with  the  hope  that 
emulation  will  be  excited.  It  is  the  farewell  address  of  Kin  Che-ess 
(Spectacles),  medicine-man  of  the  Wichitas,  to  Missionary  A.  J.  HOLT 
on  his  departure  from  the  Wichita  Agency,  in  the  words  of  the  latter. 

A    SPEECH    IN    SIGNS. 

He  placed  one  hand  on  my  breast,  the  other  on  his  own,  then  clasped 
his  two  hands  together  after  the  manner  of  our  congratulations, —  We  tire 
friends.  He  placed  one  hand  on  me,  the  other  on  himself,  then  placed  the 
first  two  fingers  of  his  right  hand  between  his  lips, —  We  arc  brothers,  lie 
placed  his  right  hand  over  my  heart,  his  left  hand  over  his  own  heart,  then 
linked  the  first  fingers  of  his  right  and  left  hands, — Our  heart*  arc  linked 
together.  He  laid  his  right  hand  on  me  lightly,  then  put  it  to  his  mouth, 
with  the  knuckles  lightly  against  his  lips,  and  made  the  motion  of  flipping 
water  from  the  right-hand  forefinger,  each  flip  casting  the  hand  and  arm 
from  the  mouth  a  foot  or  so,  then  bringing  it  back  in  the  same  position. 
(This  repeated  three  or  more  times,  signifying  "talk"  or  talking.)  He  then 


SPKECH  OF  KIX  cnE-fiss.  45 

made  a  motion  with  his  right  hand  as  if  he  were  fanning  his  right  ear;  this 
repeated.  lie  then  extended  his  right  hand  with  his  index-finger  pointing 
upward,  his  eyes  also  being  turned  upward, — You  told  me  of  the  Great 
Father.  Pointing  to  himself,  he  hugged  both  hands  to  his  bosom,  as  if  he 
were  affectionately  clasping  something  he  loved,  and  then  pointed  upward 
in  the  way  before  described, — I  love  him  (the  Great  Father).  Laying  his 
right  hand  on  me,  ho  clasped  his  hands  to  his  bosom  as  before, — /  love  yon. 
Placing  his  right  hand  on  my  shoulder,  he  threw  it  over  his  own  right 
shoulder  as  if  he  were  casting  behind  him  a  little  chip,  only  when  his  hand 
was  over  his  shoulder  his  index-finger  was  pointing  behind  him, — Yon  go 
away.  Pointing  to  his  breast,  he  clinched  the  same  hand  as  if  it  held  a 
stick,  and  made  a  motion  as  if  he  were  trying  to  strike  something  on  the 
ground  with  the  bottom  of  the  stick  held  in  an  upright  position, — I  stay,  or 
/  stay  right  here. 

Placing  his  right  hand  on  me,  he  placed  both  his  hands  on  his 
breast  and  breathed  deeply  two  or  three  times,  then  using  the  index-finger 
and  thumb  of  each  hand  as  if  he  were  holding  a  small  pin,  he  placed 
the  two  hands  in  this  position  as  if  he  were  holding  a  thread  in  each  hand 
and  between  tho  thumb  and  forefinger  of  each  hand  close  together,  and 
then  let  his  hands  recede  from  each  other,  still  holding  his  fingers  in  the 
same  position,  as  if  he  were  letting  a  thread  slip  between  them  until  his 
hands  were  two  feet  apart, — You  live  long  time.  Laying  his  right  hand  on 
his  breast,  then  extending  his  forefinger  of  the  same  hand,  holding  it  from 
him  at  half-arm's  length,  the  finger  pointing  nearly  upward,  then  moving 
his  hand,  with  the  finger  thus  extended,  from  side  to  side  about  as  rapidly 
as  a  man  steps  in  walking,  each  time  letting  his  hand  get  farther  from  him 
for  three  or  four  times,  then  suddenly  placing  his  left  hand  in  a  horizontal 
position  with  the  fingers  extended  and  together  so  that  the  palm  was  side- 
wise,  he  used  the  right-hand  palm  extended,  fingers  together,  as  a  hatchet, 
and  brought  it  down  smartly,  just  missing  the  ends  of  the  fingers  of  the  left 
hand.  Then  placing  his  left  hand,  with  the  thumb  and  forefinger  closed,  to 
his  heart,  he  brought  his  right  hand,  fingers  in  the  same  position,  to  his  left, 
then,  as  if  he  were  holding  something  between  his  thumb  and  forefinger,  he 
moved  his  right  hand  away  as  if  he  were  slowly  casting  a  hair  from  him, 


46  SI'KKCH   OF   KIN   UIK-KSS. 

his  left  hand  remaining  at  his  breast,  and  his  eyes  following  his  right, — I  go 
about  a  little  while  longer,  lilt  will  l>c  cut  off  shortly  and  »iy  spirit  will  go  away 
(or  will  die).  Placing  the  thumbs  and  forefingers  again  in  such  a  position 
as  if  he  held  a  small  thread  between  the  thumb  and  forefinger  of  each  hand, 
and  the  hands  touching  each  other,  he  drew  his  hands  slowly  from  each 
other,  as  if  he  were  stretching  a  piece  of  gum-elastic;  then  laying  his  right 
hand  on  me,  he  extended  the  left  hand  in  a  horizontal  position,  fingers 
extended  and  closed,  and  brought  down  his  right  hand  with  fingers  extended 
and  together,  so  as  to  just  miss  the  tips  of  the  fingers  of  his  left  hand;  then 
placing  his  left  forefinger  and  thumb  against  his  heart,  he  acted  as  if  he 
took  a  hair  from  the  forefinger  and  thumb  of  his  left  hand  with  the  fore 
finger  and  thumb  of  the  right,  and  slowly  cast  it  from  him,  only  letting  his 
left  hand  remain  at  his  breast,  and  let  the  index-finger  of  the  right  hand 
point  outward  toward  the  distant  horizon, — After  along  time  you  die.  When 
placing  his  left  hand  upon  himself  and  his  right  hand  upon  me,  he  extended 
them  upward  over  his  head  and  clasped  them  there, — We  then  meet  in  heaven. 
Pointing  upward,  then  to  himself,  then  to  me,  he  closed  the  third  and  little 
finger  of  his  right  hand,  laying  his  thumb  over  them,  then  extending  his 
first  and  second  fingers  about  as  far  apart  as  the  eyes,  he  brought  his  hand 
to  his  eyes,  fingers  pointing  outward,  and  shot  his  hand  outward, — I  sec  you 
up  there.  Pointing  to  me,  then  giving  the  last  above-described  sign  of 
"look,"  then  pointing  to  himself,  he  made  the  sign  as  if  stretching  out  a 
piece  of  gum-elastic  between  the  fingers  of  his  left  and  right  hands,  and 
then  made  the  sign  of  "cut-off"  before  described,  and  then  extended  the 
palm  of  the  right  hand  horizontally  a  foot  from  his  waist,  inside  downward, 
then  suddenly  threw  it  half  over  and  from  him,  as  if  you  were  to  toss  a 
chip  from  the  back  of  the  hand  (this  is  the  negative  sign  everywhere 
used  among  these  Indians), — I  would  see  him  a  long  time,  which  should  never 
Lc  cut  off,  i.  e.,  always. 

Pointing  upward,  then  rubbing  the  back  of  his  left  hand  lightly 
with  the  forefinger  of  his  right,  he  again  gave  the  negative  sign, — 
No  Indian  there  (in  heaven).  Pointing  upward,  then  rubbing  his  fore 
finger  over  the  back  of  my  hand,  he  again  made  the  negative  sign, — 
No  white  man  there.  He  made  the  same  sign  again,  only  he  felt  his  hair 


A   STORY  IX  SIGNS.  47 

with  the  forefinger  and  thumb  of  his  right  hand,  rolling  the  hair  several 
times  between  the  fingers, — No  Hack  man  in  heaven.  Then  rubbing  the  back 
of  his  hand  and  making  the  negative  sign,  rubbing  the  back  of  my  hand 
and  making  the  negative  sign,  feeling  of  one  of  his  hairs  with  the  thumb 
and  forefinger  of  his  right  hand,  and  making  the  negative  sign,  then  using 
both  hands  as  if  he  were  reaching  around  a  hogshead,  he  brought  the  fore 
finger  of  his  right  hand  to  the  front  in  an  upright  position  after  their  man 
ner  of  counting,  and  said  thereby, — No  Indian,  no  white  man,  no  Had;  man, 
all  one.  Making  the  "hogshead"  sign,  and  that  for  "look,"  he  placed  the 
forefinger  of  each  hand  side  by  side  pointing  upward, — All  look  tJte  same,  or 
alike.  Running  his  hands  over  his  wild  Indian  costume  and  over  my 
clothes,  he  made  the  "hogshead"  sign,  and  that  for  "same,"  and  said 
thereby, — All  dress  alike  there.  Then  making  the  "  hogshead "  sign,  and 
that  for  "love"  (hugging  his  hands),  ho  extended  both  hands  outward, 
palms  turned  downward,  and  made  a  sign  exactly  similar  to  the  way  ladies 
smooth  a  bed  in  making  it;  this  is  the  sign  for  "  happy," — All  will  be  happy 
alike  there,  lie  then  made  the  sign  for  "talk,"  and  for  "Father,"  pointing  to 
himself  and  to  me, —  You  pray  for  me.  He  then  made  the  sign  for  "yo  away" 
pointing  to  me,  he  threw  right  hand  over  his  right  shoulder  so  his  index- 
finger  pointed  behind  him, — You  go  away.  Calling  his  name  he  made  the 
sign  for  "look"  and  the  sign  of  negation  after  pointing  to  me, — Kin  Che-ess 
see  you  no  more. 


The  following,  which  is  presented  as  a  better  descriptive  model,  was 
obtained  by  Dr.  W.  J.  HOFFMAN,  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  from  Natshes, 
the  Pah-Ute  chief  connected  with  the  delegation  before  mentioned,  and 
refers  to  an  expedition  made  by  him  by  direction  of  his  father,  Winne- 
mucca,  Head  Chief  of  the  Pah-Utes,  to  the  northern  camp  of  his  tribe, 
partly  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  the  hostile  outbreak  of  the  Bannocks 
which  occurred  in  1878,  and  more  particularly  to  prevent  those  Pah-Utes 
from  being  drawn  into  any  difficulty  with  the  authorities  by  being  leagued 
with  the  Bannocks. 


48  A  STOlfY  IX  SKINS. 

A  STORY  IN  SIGNS. 

(I)  Clowe    the  right  hand,  leaving  the  index  extended,  pointed  west 
ward  at  arm's  length  a  little  above  the  horizon,  head  thrown  back  with 
the  eyes  partly  closed  and  following  the  direction, — Away  to  tin'-  went,  (2) 
indicate  a  large  circle  on  the  ground  with  the  forefinger  of  the  right  hand 
pointing  downward, — place  (locative),  (3)  the  tips  of  the  spread  fingers  of  both 
hands  placed  against  one  another,  pointing  upward  before  the  body,  leav 
ing  a  space  of  four  or  five  inches  between  the  wrists, — house  (brush  tent  or 
wick'-i-up),  (4)  with  the  right  hand  closed,  index  extended  or  slightly  bent, 
tap    the  breast  several   times, — mine.     (5)  Draw  an  imaginary  line,   with 
the  right  index  toward  the  ground,  from  some  distance  in  front  of  the  body 
to  a  position  nearer  to  it, — from   there  I  came,   (G)  indicate  a  spot  on  the 
ground  by  quickly  raising  and   depressing   the  right  hand  with  the  index 
pointing  downward, — to  a  stopping  place,   (7)  grasp   the  forelock  with  the 
right  hand,  palm  to  the  forehead,  and  raise  it  about  six  inches,  still  holding 
the  hair  upward, — the.  chief  of  the  tribe  (Winnemucca),  (.H)  touch  the  breast 
with  the  index, — me,  (9)  the  righf  hand  held  forward  from  the  hip  at   the 
level   of   the  elbow,   closed,  palm   downward,  with   the  middle  linger  ex 
tended  and  quickly    moved  up  and  down  a    short  distance, — telegraphed, 
(10)    head    inclined    toward    the    right,   at  the  same   time  making    move 
ment  toward  and  from  the  ear  with  the  extended  index  pointing  towards 
it, — I  heard,  i.  e.,  understood. 

(II)  An  imaginary  line  indicated  with  the  extended  and  inverted  index 
from  a  short  distance  before  the  body  to  a  place  on  the  right, — I  unit,  (12) 
repeat  gesture  No.  G, — a  stopping  place,  (!.">)  inclining  the  head,  with  eyes 
closed,  toward  the  right,  bring  the  extended  right  hand,  palm  up,  to  within 
six  inches    of  the  right    ear, — icltcre   I  slept.     (14)  Place  the  spread  and 
extended  index  and  thumb  of  the  right  hand,  palm  downward,  across  the 
right  side  of  the  forehead, — white  man    (American),    (15)    elevating  both 
hands  before  the  breast,  palms  forward,  thumbs  touching,  the  little  finger 
of  the  right  hand  closed, — nine,  (16)  touch  the  breast  with  the  right  fore 
finger  suddenly, — and  myself,  (17)  lowering  the  hand,  and  pointing  down 
ward  and  forward  with  the  index  still  extended  (the  remaining  fingers  and 
thumb  being  loosely  closed)  indicate  an  imaginary  line  along  the  ground 


A  STORY   IX  SIGNS.  49 

toward  the  extreme  right, — went,  (18)  extend  the  forefinger  of  the  closed 
left  hand,  and  place  the  .separated  fore  and  second  fingers  of  the  right 
astraddle  the  forefinger  of  the  left,  and  make  a  series  of  arched  or  curved 
movements  toward  the  right, — rode  horseback,  (19)  keeping  the  hands  in 
their  relative  position,  place  them  a  short  distance  below  the  right  ear,  the 
head  being  inclined  toward  that  side, — sleep,  (20)  report  the  signs  for  ridhig 
(No.  18)  and  sleeping  (No.  1'J)  three  times, — four  days  anil  nir/h's,  ('21)  make 
sign  No.  18,  and  stopping  suddenly  point  toward  tho  east  with  the  extended 
index-finger  of  the  right  (others  being  closed)  and  follow  the  course;  of  the 
sun  until  it  reaches  the  zenith, — arrived  at  noon  of  the  fiftlt  day 

(22)  Indicate  a  circle  as  in  No.  2, — a  camp,  (2.'!)  the  hands  then  placed 
together  as  in  No.  3,  and  in  this  position,  both  moved  in  short  irregular 
upward  and  downward  jerks  from  side  to  side, — many  wick'-i-ups,  (24)  then 
indicate  the  chief  of  the  tribe  as  in  No.  7, — meaning  that  it  was  one  of  the 
camps  of  the  chief  of  Hie  tribe.  (25)  Make  a  peculiar  whistling  sound  of 
"phew"  and  draw  the  extended  index  of  the  right  hand  across  the  throat 
from  left  to  right, — Bannock,  (26)  draw  an  imaginary  line  with  the  same 
extended  index,  pointing  toward  the  ground,  from  the  right  to  the  body,— 
came  from  the  north,  (27)  again  make  gesture  No.  2, —  camp,  (28)  and  follow 
it  twice  by  sign  given  as  No.  18  (forward  from  the  body,  but  a  short  dis 
tance), — two  rode.  (2i>)  Rub  the  back  of  the  right  hand  with  the  extended 
index  of  the  left, — Indian,  i.  e.,  the  narrator's  own  tribe.  Pah-Ute,  (30)  ele 
vate  both  hands  side  by  side  before  the  breast,  palms  forward,  thumbs 
touching,  then,  after  a  short  pause,  close  all  the  fingers  and  thumbs  except 
the  two  outer  fingers  of  the  right  hand, — twelve,  (31)  again  place  the  hands 
side  by  side  with  fingers  all  spread  or  separated,  and  move  them  in  a  hori 
zontal  curve  toward  the  right, — went  out  of  camp,  (32)  and  make  the  sign 
given  as  No.  25, — Bannock,  (33)  that  of  No.  2, — camp,  (34)  then  join  the 
hands  as  in  No.  3 1 ,  from  the  right  towards  the  front, — Pah-  Utcs  returned,  (35) 
close  the  right  hand,  leaving  the  index  only  extended,  move  it  forward  and 
downward  from  the  mouth  three  or  four  times,  pointing  forward,  each  time 
ending  the  movement  at  a  different  point, — I  talked  to  them,  (36)  both  hands 
pointing  upward,  fingers  and  thumbs  separated,  palms  facing  and  about 
four  inches  apart,  held  in  front  of  the  body  as  far  as  possible  in  that  posi- 
4  s  L 


50  A  STORY  IN  SIGXS. 

tion, — the  mat  in  council,  (37)  point  toward  the  east  with  the  index  appar 
ently  curving-  downward  over  the  horizon,  then  gradually  elevate  it  to  ;m 
altitude  of  45°, — talked  all  nitjht  and  until  nine  o'clock  next  mornlnf),  (38)  bring 
the  closed  hands,  with  forefingers  extended,  upward  and  forward  from  their 
respective  sides,  and  place  them  side  by  side,  palms  forward,  in  front, — HI;/ 
brother,  («'»!))  followed  by  the  gesture,  No.  18,  directed  toward  the  left  and 
front, — rode,  (40)  by  No.  7, — the  lead  chief,  (41)  and  No.  2, — camp. 

(42)  Continue  by  placing  the  hands,  slightly  curved,  palm  to  palm, 
holding  them  about  six  inches  below  the  right  ear,  the  head  being  inclined 
considerably  in  that  direction, — one  deep  (>ii(/hf),  (4,'i)  make  sign  No.  14, — 
/chile  in/in,  (44)  raise  the  left  hand  to  the  level  of  the  elbow  forward  from 
tlie  left  hip,  fingers  pointing  upward,  thumb  and  forefinger  closed, — three, 
(45)  and  in  this  position  draw  them  toward  the  body  and  slightly  to  the 
right, — came,  (4(>)  then  make  gesture  No.  42, — sleep;  (47)  point  with  the 
right  index  to  the  eastern  horizon, — in  (he  mornint/,  (-18)  make  sign  No. 
14, — icliite  man,  (4!)),  hold  the  left  hand  nearly  at  arm's  length  before  the 
body,  back  up,  thumb  and  forefinger  closed,  the  remaining  fingers  pointing 
downward, — three,  (50)  with  the  right  index-finger  make  gesture  No.  35, 
the  movement  being  directed  towards  the  left  hand, — talked  to  them,  (51) 
motion  along  the  ground  with  the  left  hand,  from  the  body  toward  the  left 
and  front,  retaining  the  position  of  the  fingers  just  stated  (in  No.  49), — 
the i/  went,  (52)  tap  toward  the  ground,  as  in  gesture  No.  G,  with  the  left 
hand  nearly  at  arm's  length, — to  their  camp. 

(5.'5)  Make  gesture  No.  IS  toward  the  front, — I  rode,  (54)  extend  the 
right  hand  to  the  left  and  front,  and  tap  towards  the  earth  several  times  as 
in  sign  No.  (!,  having  the  fingers  and  thumb  collected  to  a  point, — camp  of 
the  white  men-  (55)  Close  both  hands,  with  the  forefingers  of  each  partly 
extended  and  crooked,  and  place  one  on  either  side  of  the  forehead,  palms 
forward, — cattle  (a  steer),  (5G)  hold  the  left  hand  loosely  extended,  back  for 
ward,  about  twenty  inches  before  the  breast,  and  strike  the  back  of  the 
partly  extended  right  hand  into  the  left, — shot,  (57)  make  a  short  upward 
curved  movement  with  both  hands,  their  position  unchanged,  over  and 
downward  toward  the  right, — fell  over,  killed,  (58)  then  hold  the  left  hand  a 
.short  distance  before  the  body  at  the  height  of  the  elbow,  palm  downward, 


A  STORY   IN  SKINS.  51 

fingers  closed,  with  the  thumb  lying  over  the  second  joint  of  the  fore 
finger,  extend  the  flattened  right  hand,  edge  down,  before  the  body,  just 
by  the  knuckles  of  the  left,  and  draw  the  hand  towards  the  body,  repeating 
the  movement, — skinned,  (;">!))  make  the  sign  given  in  No.  25, — Itannock, 
(GO)  place  both  hands  with  spread  fingers  up  ward  and  palms  forward,  thumb 
to  thumb,  before  the  right  shoulder,  moving  them  with  a  tremulous  motion 
toward  the  left  and  front, — came  hi,  (<il)  make  three  short  movements 
toward  the  ground  in  front,  with  the  left  hand,  lingers  loosely  curved,  and 
pointing  downward, — camp  of  the  three  white  men,  (<>2)  then  with  the  right 
hand  open  and  flattened,  edge  down,  cut  towards  the  body  as  well  as  to  the 
right  and  left, — cut  up  the.  meat,  ((S3)  and  make  the  pantomimic  gesture  of 
haiulhif/  it  around  to  the  visitors. 

(04)  Make  sign  Xo.  35,  the  movement  being  directed  to  the  left  hand, 
as  held  in  Xo.  4'J, — told  the  white  men,  ((if))  grasping  the  hair  on  the  right  side 
of  the  head  with  the  left  hand,  and  drawing  the  extended  right  hand  with 
the  edge  towards  and  across  the  side  of  the  head  from  behind  forward, — to 
scalp;  (G6)  close  the  right  hand,  leaving  the  index  partly  extended,  and  wave 
it  several  times  quickly  from  side  to  side  a  short  distance  before  the  face, 
slightly  shaking  the  head  at  the  same  time, — no,  (i>7)  make  gesture  Xo  4,— 
me,  (G8)  repeat  No.  Co, — scalp,  (G9)  and  raising  the  forelock  high  with  the 
left  hand,  straighten  the  whole  frame  with  a  triumphant  air, — make  me  a 
great  chief.  (70)  Close  the  right  hand  with  the  index  fully  extended,  place 
the  tip  to  the  mouth  and  direct  it  firmly  forward  and  downward  toward  the 
ground, — stop,  (71)  then  placing  the  hands,  pointing  upward,  side  by  side, 
thumbs  touching,  and  all  the  fingers  separated,  move  them  from  near  the 
breast  outward  toward  the  right,  palms  facing  that  direction  at  termination 
of  movement, — the  Bannocks  went  to  one  side,  (72)  with  the  right  hand 
closed,  index  curved,  palm  downward,  point  toward  the  western  horizon, 
and  at  arm's  length  dip  the  finger  downward, — after  sunset,  (73)  make  the 
gesture  given  as  Xo.  14, — ivliite  men,  (74)  pointing  to  the  heart  as  in  Xo.  4,— 
and  I,  (75)  conclude  by  making  gesture  Xo.  18  from  near  body  toward  the 
left,  four  times,  at  the  end  of  each  movement  the  hands  remaining  in  the 
same  position,  thrown  slightly  upward, — we  four  escaped  on  horseback. 


52  ORAL  PARAPHRASE  OF  TIIK  STORY. 

The  above  was  paraphrased  orally  by  the  narrator  as  follows  :  Hearing 
of  the  trouble  in  the  north,  I  started  eastward  from  my  camp  in  Western 
Nevada,  when,  upon  arriving  at  Winnemucca  Station,  I  received  telegraphic 
orders  from  the  head  chief  to  go  north  to  induce  our  bands  in  that  region 
to  escape  the  approaching  difficulties  with  the  Bannocks.  I  started  for  Camp 
McDermit,  where  I  remained  one  night.  Leaving  next  morning  in  com 
pany  with  nine  others,  we  rode  on  for  four  days  and  a  half.  Soon  after  our 
arrival  at  the  Pah-Ute  camp,  two  Bannocks  came  in,  when  I  sent  twelve 
Pah-Utes  to  their  camp  to  ask  them  all  to  come  in  to  hold  council.  These 
messengers  soon  returned,  when  I  collected  all  the  Pah-Utes  and  talked  to 
them  all  night  regarding  the  dangers  of  an  alliance  with  the  Bannocks  and 
of  their  continuance  in  that  locality.  Next  morning  I  sent  my  brother  to 
the  chief,  Winnemucca,  with  a  report  of  proceedings. 

On  the  following  day  three  white  men  rode  into  camp,  who  had  come 
up  to  aid  in  persuading  the  Pah-Utes  to  move  away  from  the  border.  Next 
morning  I  consulted  with  them  respecting  future  operations,  after  which  they 
went  away  a  short  distance  to  their  camp.  I  then  followed  them,  where  I 
shot  and  killed  a  steer,  and  while  skinning  it  the  Bannocks  came  in,  when 
the  meat  was  distributed.  The  Bannocks  being  disposed  to  become  violent 
at  any  moment,  the  white  men  became  alarmed,  when  I  told  them  that 
rather  than  allow  them  to  be  scalped  I  would  be  scalped  myself  in  defend 
ing  them,  for  which  action  I  would  be  considered  as  great  a  chief  as  Win 
nemucca  by  my  people.  When  I  told  the  Bannocks  to  cease  threatening 
the  white  men  they  all  moved  to  one  side  a  short  distance  to  hold  a  war 
council,  and  after  the  sun  went  down  the  white  men  and  I  mounted  our 
horses  and  fled  toward  the  south,  whence  we  came. 

Some  of  the  above  signs  seem  to  require  explanation.  Natshes  was 
facing  the  west  during  the  whole  of  this  narration,  and  by  the  right  he 
signified  the  north;  this  will  explain  the  significance  of  his  gesture  to  the 
right  in  Xos.  11  and  17,  and  to  the  left  in  No.  75. 

No.  2  (repeated  in  Nos.  22,  27,  33,  and  41),  designates  an  Indian  brush 
lodge,  and  although  Natshes  has  not  occupied  one  for  some  years,  the  ges 
ture  illustrates  the  original  conception  in  the  round  form  of  the  foundation 
of  poles,  branches,  and  brush,  the  interlacing  of  which  in  the  construction 


KKMA11KS  ON  THE  SIGNS  IN  THE  STOJ4Y.  53 

of  the  wick'-i-up  has  survived  in  gestures  Nos.  3  and  23  (the  latter  referring 
to  more  than  one,  i.  e,,  an  encampment) 

The  sign  for  Bannock,  No.  25  (also  32  and  59),  has  its  origin  from  the 
tradition  among  the  Pah-Utes  that  the  Bannocks  were  in  the  habit  of  cut- 
tinf  the  throats  of  their  victims.  This  sign  is  made  with  the  index  instead 

O 

of  the  similar  gesture  witli  the  flat  hand,  which  among  several  tribes  denotes 
the  Sioux,  but  the  Pah-Utes  examined  had  no  specific  sign  for  that  body  of 
Indians,  not  having  been  in  sufficient  contact  with  them. 

"A  stopping  place,"  referred  to  in  Nos.  6,  12,  52,  and  54,  represents 
the  settlement,  station,  or  camp  of  white  men,  and  is  contradistinguished  by 
merely  dotting  toward  the  ground  instead  of  indicating  a  circle. 

It  will  also  be  seen  that  in  several  instances,  after  indicating  the  nation 
ality,  the  fingers  previously  used  in  representing  the  number  were  repeated 
without  its  previously  accompanying  specific  gesture,  as  in  No.  6 1 ,  where  the 
three  fingers  of  the  left  hand  represented  the  men  (white) ,  and  the  three  move 
ments  toward  the  ground  signified  the  camp  or  tents  of  the  three  (white)  men. 

This  also  occurs  in  the  gesture  (Nos.  59,  60,  and  71)  employed  for  the 
Bannocks,  which,  having  been  once  specified,  is  used  subsequently  without 
its  specific  preceding  sign  for  the  tribe  represented. 

The  rapid  connection  of  the  signs  Nos.  57  and  58,  and  of  Nos.  74  and 
75  indicates  the  conjunction,  so  that  they  are  severally  readily  understood 
as  "shot  and  killed,"  and  "the  white  men  and  I."  The  same  remark  applies 
to  Nos.  15  and  16,  "the  nine  and  I." 

In  the  examination  of  the  sign-language  it  is  important  to  form  a  clear 
distinction  between  signs  proper  and  symbols.  All  characters  in  Indian 
picture-writing  have  been  loosely  styled  symbols,  and  as  there  is  no  logical 
distinction  between  the  characters  impressed  with  enduring  form,  and  when 
merely  outlined  in  the  ambient  air,  all  Indian  gestures,  motions,  and  atti 
tudes  might  with  equal  appropriateness  be  called  symbolic.  While,  how 
ever,  all  symbols  come  under  the  generic  head  of  signs,  very  few  signs  are 
in  accurate  classification  symbols.  S.  T.  COLERIDGE  has  defined  a  symbol 
to  be  a  sign  included  in  the  idea  it  represents.  This  may  be  intelligible  if 
it  is  intended  that  an  ordinary  sign  is  extraneous  to  the  concept,  and,  rather 


54  SYMBOLS,   EMULKMS  AND  SIGNS. 

than  directly  suggested  by  it,  is  invented  to  express  it  by  some  representa 
tion  or  analogy,  while  a  symbol  may  be  evolved  by  a  process  of  thought 
from  the  concept  itself;  but  it  is  no  very  exhaustive  or  practically  useful 
distinction.  Symbols  are  less  obvious  and  more  artificial  than  mere  signs, 
require  convention,  are  not  only  abstract,  but  metaphysical,  and  often  need 
explanation  from  history,  religion,  and  customs.  Our  symbols  of  the  ark, 
dove,  olive  branch,  and  rainbow  would  be  wholly  meaningless  to  people 
unfamiliar  with  the  Mosaic  or  some  similar  cosmology,  as  would  be  the 
cross  and  the  crescent  to  those  ignorant  of  history.  The  last-named  objects 
appeared  in  the  lower  class  of  einlicina  when  used  in  designating  the  con 
flicting  powers  of  Christendom  and  Islamism.  Emblems  do  not  necessarily 
require  any  analogy  between  the  objects  representing  and  those,  or  the 
qualities,  represented,  but  may  arise  from  pure  accident.  After  a  scurrilous 
jest  the  beggar's  wallet  became  the  emblem  of  the  confederated  nobles,  the 
Gueux,  of  the  Netherlands  ;  and  a  sling,  in  the  early  minority  of  Louis  XIV, 
was  adopted  from  the  refrain  of  a  song  by  the  Frondeur  opponents  of 
Ma/arin.  The  several  tribal  signs  for  the  Sioux,  Arapaho,  Cheyenne,  &c., 
are  their  emblems  precisely  as  the  star-spangled  flag  is  that  of  the  United 
States,  but  there  is  nothing  symbolic  in  any  of  them.  So  the  signs  for  indi 
vidual  chiefs,  when  not  merely  translations  of  their  names,  are  emblematic 
of  their  family  totems  or  personal  distinctions,  and  are  no  more  symbols 
than  are  the  distinctive  shoulder-straps  of  army  officers.  The  crux  ansata 
and  the  circle  formed  by  a  snake  biting  its  tail  are  symbols,  but  consensus 
as  well  as  invention  was  necessary  for  their  establishment,  and  our  Indians 
have  produced  nothing  so  esoteric,  nothing  which  they  intended  for  herrne- 
neutic  as  distinct  from  mnemonic  purposes.  Sign-language  can  undoubtedly 
be  employed  to  express  highly  metaphysical  ideas,  indeed  is  so  employed 
by  educated  deaf-mutes,  but  to  do  that  in  a  system  requires  a  development 
of  the  mode  of  expression  consequent  upon  a  similar  development  of  the 
mental  idiocrasy  of  thu  gesturers  far  beyond  any  yet  found  among  historic 
tribes  north  of  Mexico.  A  very  few  of  their  signs  may  at  first  appear  to 
be  symbolic,  yet  even  those  on  closer  examination  will  probably  be  rele 
gated  to  the  class  of  emblems,  as  was  the  case  of  that  for  "  Partisan"  given 
by  the  Prince  of  WIEJJ.  Jiy  that  title  he  meant,  as  indeed  was  the  common 


A1J15UHV1ATION  AM)  REDUCTION.  55 

expression  of  the  Canadian  voyageurs,  a  leader  of  an  occasional  or  volunteer 
war  party,  and  the  sign  he  reports  as  follows :  "  Plaice  first  the  sign  of  the 
pipe,  afterwards  open  the  thumb  and  index-finger  of  the  right  hand,  back 
of  the  hand  outward,  and  move  it  forward  and  upward  in  a  curve."  This 
is  explained  by  the  author's  account  in  a  different  connection,  that  to  become 
recognized  as  a  leader  of  such  a  war  part}'  as  above  mentioned,  the  first 
act  among  the  tribes  using  the  sign  was  the  consecration,  by  fasting  suc 
ceeded  by  feasting,  of  a  medicine  pipe  without  ornament,  which  the  leader 
of  the  expedition  afterward  bore  before  him  as  his  badge  of  authority,  and 
it  therefore  naturally  became  an  emblematic  sign.  There  ma}-  be  inter 
est  in  noting  that  the  "Calendar  of  the  Dakota  Nation"  (Bulletin  U.  S. 
G.  and  G.  Survey,  vol.  iii,  No  1),  gives  a  figure  (No.  43,  A.  I.).  1842) 
showing  "One  Feather,"  a  Sioux  chief  who  raised  in  that  year  a  large 
war  party  against  the  Crows,  which  fact  is  simply  denoted  by  his  hold 
ing  out  demonstratively  an  unornamented  pipe.  The  point  urged  is  that 
while  any  sign  or  emblem  can  be  converted  by  convention  into  a  symbol, 
or  be  explained  as  such  by  perverted  ingenuity,  it  is  futile  to  seek  for 
symbolism  in  the  stage  of  aboriginal  development,  and  to  interpret  the  con 
ception  of  particular  signs  by  that  form  of  psychologic  exuberance  were  to 
fall  into  mooning  mysticism.  This  was  shown  by  a  correspondent  of  the 
present  writer,  who  enthusiastically  lauded  the  Dakota  Calendar  (edited  by 
the  latter,  and  a  mere  figuration  of  successive  occurrences)  as  a  numerical 
exposition  of  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Sun  religion  in  the  equations  of 
time,  and  proved  to  his  own  satisfaction  that  our  Indians  preserved  her- 
meneutically  the  lost  geometric  cultus  of  pre-Cushite  scientists.  He  might 
as  well  have  deciphered  it  as  the  tabulated  dynasties  of  the  pre-Adamite 
kings. 

A  lesson  was  learned  by  the  writer  as  to  the  abbreviation  of  signs,  and 
the  possibility  of  discovering  the  original  meaning  of  those  most  obscure, 
from  the  attempts  of  a  Cheyenne  to  convey  the  idea  of  old  man.  He  held 
his  right  hand  forward,  bent  at  elbow,  fingers  and  thumb  closed  sidewisc. 
This  not  conveying  any  sense  he  found  a  long  stick,  bent  his  back,  and  sup 
ported  his  frame  in  a  tottering  step  by  the  stick  held,  as  was  before  only 
imagined.  There  at  once  was  decrepit  age  dependent  on  a  stall'.  The 


56  SENTENCES  AND  SYNTAX. 

principle  of  abbreviation  or  reduction  may  be  illustrated  by  supposing  a 
person,  under  circumstances  forbidding  the  use  of  the  voice,  seeking  to  call 
attention  to  a  particular  bird  on  a  tree,  and  failing-  to  do  so  by  mere  indication. 
1  )escriptive  signs  are  resorted  to,  perhaps  suggesting  the  bill  and  wings  of  the 
bird,  its  manner  of  clinging  to  the  twig  with  its  feet,  its  size  by  seeming  to 
hold  it  between  the  hands,  its  color  by  pointing  to  objects  of  the  same  hue  ; 
perhaps  by  the  action  of  shooting  into  a  tree,  picking  up  the  supposed 
fallen  game,  and  plucking  feathers.  These  are  continued  until  understood, 
and  if  one  sign  or  group  of  signs  proves  to  be  successful  that  will  be  re 
peated  on  the;  next  occasion  by  both  persons  engaged,  and  when  becoming 
familiar  between  them  and  others  will  be  more  and  more  abbreviated.  To 
this  degree  only,  when  the  signs  of  the  Indians  have  from  ideographic  form 
become  demotic,  are  they  conventional,  and  none  of  them  are  arbitrary,  but 
in  them,  as  in  all  his  actions,  man  had  at  first  a  definite  meaning  or  purpose, 
together  with  method  in  their  after  changes  or  modifications.  The  forma 
tion  and  reception  of  signs  upon  a  generally  understood  principle,  by  which 
they  may  be  comprehended  when  seen  for  the  first  time,  has  been  before 
noticed  as  one  of  the  causes  of  the  report  of  a  common  code,  as  out  of  a 
variety  of  gestures,  each  appropriate  to  express  a  particular  idea,  an  ob 
server  may  readily  have  met  the  same  one  in  several  localities. 

It  were  needless  to  suggest  to  any  qualified  observer  that  there  is  in 
the  gesture-speech  no  organized  sentence  such  as  is  integrated  in  the  lan 
guages  of  civilization,  and  that  he  must  not  look  for  articles  or  particles  or 
passive  voice  or  case  or  grammatic  gender,  or  even  what  we  use  as  a  sub 
stantive  or  a  verb,  as  a  subject  or  a  predicate,  or  as  qualifiers  or  inflexions. 
The  sign  radicals,  without  being  specifically  any  of  our  parts  of  speech, 
may  be  all  of  them  in  turn.  lie  will  find  no  part  of  grammar  beyond  the 
pictorial  grouping  which  may  be  classed  under  the  scholastic  head  of  syn 
tax,  but  that  exception  is  sufficiently  important  to  make  it  desirable  that 
specimens  of  narratives  and  speeches  in  the  exact  order  of  their  gesticula 
tion  should  be  reported.  The  want  before  mentioned,  of  a  sufficiently  com 
plete  and  exact  collection  of  tales  and  talks  in  the  sign-language  of  the 
Indians,  leaves  it  impossible  to  dwell  now  upon  their  syntax,  but  the  sub 
ject  has  received  much  discussion  in  connection  with  the  order  of  deaf-mute 


WOKDS  AND  SIGNS  NOT  CONVERTIBLE.  57 

signs  as  compared  with  oral  speech,  some  notes  of  which,  condensed  from 
the  speculations  of  VALADE  and  others,  are  as  follows: 

In  mimic  construction  there  are  to  be  considered  both  the  order  in  which 
the  signs  succeed  one  another  and  the  relative  positions  in  which  they  are 
made,  the  latter  remaining-  longer  in  the  memory  than  the  former,  and 
spoken  language  may  sometimes  in  its  early  infancy  have  reproduced  the 
ideas  of  a  sign-picture  without  commencing  from  the  same  point.  So  the 
order,  as  in  Greek  and  Latin,  is  very  variable.  In  nations  among  whom  the 
alphabet  was  introduced  without  the  intermediary  to  any  impressive  degree 
of  picture-writing,  the  order  being,  1,  language  of  signs,  almost  superseded 
by,  2,  spoken  language,  and,  3,  alphabetic  writing,  men  would  write  in  the 
order  in  which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  speak.  But  if  at  a  time  when 
spoken  language  was  still  rudimentary,  intercourse  being  mainly  carried  on 
by  signs,  figurative  writing  was  invented,  the  order  of  the  figures  will  be 
the  order  of  the  signs,  and  the  same  order  will  pass  into  the  spoken  lan 
guage.  Hence  LEIBNITZ  says  truly  that  "  the  writing  of  the  Chinese  might 
seern  to  have  been  invented  by  a  deaf  person."  Their  oral  language  has 
not  known  the  phases  which  have  given  to  the  Indo-European  tongues 
their  formation  and  grammatical  parts.  In  the  latter,  signs  were  conquered 
by  speech,  while  in  the  former,  speech  received  the  yoke. 

If  the  collocation  of  the  figures  of  Indians  taking  the  place  of  our  sen 
tences  shall  establish  no  rule  of  construction,  It  will  at  least  show  the 
natural  order  of  ideas  in  the  aboriginal  mind  and  the  several  modes  of 
inversion  by  which  they  pass  from  the  known  to  the  unknown,  beginning 
with  the  dominant  idea  or  that  supposed  to  be  best  known.  So  far  as 
studied  by  the  present  writer  the  Indian  sign-utterance,  as  well  as  that 
natural  to  deaf-mutes,  appears  to  retain  the  characteristic  of  pantomime  in 
giving  first  the  principal  figure,  and  in  adding  the  accessories  successively, 
the  ideographic  expressions  being  in  the  ideological  order. 

As  of  sentences  so  of  words,  strictly  known  as  such,  there  can  be  no 
accurate  translation.  So  far  from  the  signs  representing  words  as  logo- 
graphs,  they  do  not  in  their  presentation  of  the  ideas  of  actions,  objects 
and  events,  under  physical  forms,  even  suggest  words,  which  must  be  skill 
fully  fitted  to  them  by  the  glossarist  and  laboriously  derived  from  them  by 


58  CLASSIFICATION  AND  ANALYSIS. 

the  philologer.  The  use  of  words  in  formulation,  still  more  in  terminology, 
is  so  wide  a  departure  from  primitive  conditions  as  to  be  incompatible  with 
the  only  primordial  language  yet  discovered.  No  dictionary  of  signs  will 
be  exhaustive  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  signs  are  exhaustless,  nor  will 
it  be  exact  because  there  cannot  be  a  correspondence  between  signs  and 
words  taken  individually.  AYords  and  signs  both  change  their  meaning 
from  the  context.  A  single  word  may  express  a  complex  idea,  to  be  fully 
rendered  only  by  a  group  of  signs,  and,  rice  versa,  a  single  sign  may  suffice 
for  a  number  of  words.  The  list  annexed  to  the  present  pamphlet  is  by  no 
means  intended  for  exact  translation,  but  as  a  suggestion  of  headings  or 
titles  of  signs  arranged  alphabetically  for  mere  convenience. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  ascertain  the  varying  extent  of  familiarity 
with  sign-language  among  the  members  of  the  several  tribes,  how  large  a 
proportion  possess  any  skill  in  it,  the  average  amount  of  their  vocabulary, 
the  degree  to  which  women  become  proficient,  and  the  age  at  which  chil 
dren  commence  its  practice.  The  statement  is  made  by  Titchkematski  that 
the  Kaiowa  and  Comanche  women  know  nothing  of  the  sign-language,  while 
the  Cheyenne  women  are  versed  in  it.  As  he  is  a  Cheyenne,  however,  lit 
may  not  have  a  large  circle  of  feminine  acquaintances  beyond  his  own  tribe, 
and  his  negative  testimony  is  not  valuable.  A  more  general  assertion  is 
that  the  signs  used  by  males  and  females  are  different,  though  mutually  un 
derstood,  and  some  minor  points  of  observation  may  be  indicated,  such  as 
whether  the  commencement  of  counting  upon  the  fingers  is  upon  those  of 
the  right  or  the  left  hand,  and  whether  Indians  take  pains  to  look  toward 
the  south  when  suggesting  the  course  of  the  sun,  which  would  give  the 
motion  from  left  to  right 

CLASSIFICATION  AND  ANALYSIS. 

An  important  division  of  the  deaf-mute  signs  is  into  natural  Mid  method 
ical,  the  latter  being  sometimes  called  artificial  and  stigmatized  as  parasitical. 
But  signs  may  be  artificial — that  is,  natural,  but  improved  and  enriched  by 
art — and  even  arbitrary,  without  being  strictly  what  is  termed  methodical, 
the  latter  being  part  of  the  instruction  of  deaf-mutes,  founded  upon  spoken 
languages,  and  adapted  to  the  words  and  grammatical  forms  of  those  Ian- 


SINGLE  SIGNS.  5<J 

gnages.  This  division  is  not  appropriate  to  the  signs  of  Indians,  which  tiro 
all  natural  in  this  sense,  and  in  their  beauty,  grace,  and  impressiveness.  In 
another  meaning  of  "  natural,"  given  by  deaf-mute  authorities,  it  has  little 
distinction  irom  "innate, "and  still  another,  "conveying  the  meaning  at  first 
sight,"  is  hardly  definite. 

The  signs  of  our  Indians  may  be  divided,  in  accordance  with  the  mode 
of  their  consideration,  into  innate  (generally  emotional)  and  invented;  into 
developed  and  abridged  ;  into  radical  and  derivative  ;  and  into,  1.  Indica 
tive,  as  directly  as  possible  of  the  object  intended;  2.  Imitative,  represent 
ing  it  by  configurative  drawing  ;  3.  Operative,  referring  to  actions  ;  and 
4.  Expressive,  being  chiefly  facial.  As  they  are  rhetorically  as  well  as 
directly  figurative,  they  may  be  classified  under  the  tropes  of  metaphor, 
synecdoche,  metonymy,  and  catachresis,  with  as  much  or  as  little  advantage 
as  has  been  gained  by  the  labeling  in  text-books  of  our  figures  of  articulate 
speech. 

The  most  useful  division,  however,  for  the  analysis  and  report  with 
which  collectors  are  concerned  is  into  single  and  compound,  each  including 
a  number  of  subordinate  groups,  examples  of  which  will  be  useful.  Some 
of  those  here  submitted  are  taken  from  the  selected  list  before  introduced 
to  discriminate  between  the  alleged  universality  of  the  signs  themselves  and 
of  their  use  as  an  art,  and  the  examples  of  deaf-mute  signs  have  been 
extracted  from  those  given  for  the  same  purpose  by  Mgr.  1).  DE  HAEKNE  in 
his  admirable  analysis  of  those  signs,  which  also  has  been  used  so  far  as  ap 
plicable.  Those  will  be  equally  illustrative,  both  the  Indian  and  deaf-mute 
signs  being  but  dialects  of  a  common  stock,  and  while  all  the  examples  might 
be  taken  from  the  collection  of  Indian  signs  already  made,  the  main  object 
of  the  present  work  is  to  verify  and  correct  ihat  collection  rather  than  to 
publish  more  of  it  than  necessary,  with  possible  perpetuation  of  error  in 
some  details. 

SINGLE    SIGNS. 

Single  signs  have  been  often  styled  "  simple,"  which  term  is  objection 
able  because  liable  to  be  confounded  with  the  idea  of  "  plain,"  in  which 
sense  nearly  all  Indian  signs,  being  natural,  are  simple  They  are  such 


(JO  SINGLE  SIGNS. 

as  show  only  one  phase  or  quality  of  the  object  signified.     The  following 
are  the  principal  forms  which  the}-  take : 

1.  Indication  or  representation  of  the  olject  to  Ic  described.     This  is  the 
Indicative  division  before  mentioned.     All  the  signs  for  "  I,  myself"  given 
above,  are  examples,  and  another  is  the  wetting  of  the  tip  of  the  finger  by 
deaf-mutes  to  indicate  humidity,  the  species  being  in  the  latter  case  used  for 
the  genus. 

2.  Drawing  the  outlines  of  the  object,  or  more  generally  a  part  of  the 
outlines.     The  Imitative  or  con-figurative  division  of  signs  reappears  in  this 
class  and  the  one  following.     Example :  The  above  sign  for  "  dog,"  which 
conforms  to  the  outline  of  its  head  and  back. 

3.  Imitation  of  the  condition  or  of  the  action. 

(«.)  Imitation  of  the  condition  or  state  of  being.  Under  this  form 
come  nearly  all  the  designations  of  size  and  measure.  See  some  under 
<'  Quantity,"  above. 

(&.)  Imitation  of  the  action,  or  of  activity  in  connection  with  the  object. 
Most  of  the  ideas  which  we  express  by  verbs  come  in  this  category,  but  in 
sign-language  they  are  as  properly  substantives  or  adjectives.  They  may 
be  Imitative  when  the  action,  as  of  "  eating," is  simulated  in  pantomime;  or 
Operative,  as  when  "walking  "is  actually  performed  by  taking  steps  ;  or 
Expressive,  as  when  "  grief,"  "weeping,"  appears  in  facial  play. 

4.  The  contact  had  ivith  the  object,  or  the  manner  of  using  it.    For  "break" 
an  imaginary  stick  may  be  snapped  and  the  two  parts  looked  at  as  if  sep 
arated.     See  above  signs  for  "destroyed."  (Dodge.)    A  knife  and  most  other 
utensils  are  expressed  by  their  use. 

5.  One  part  taken  for  the  whole,  or  particular  signs  made  to  represent  all 
the  signs  of  an  olject. 

This  class  has  reference  to  synecdoche.  The  Cheyenne  sign  for  "  old 
age  "  given  above  is  an  example. 

6.  How  an  object  is  produced  or  prepared. 

Here  is  metonymy  representing  the  cause  for  the  effect.  An  example 
may  be  found  among  us  when  a  still  wine  is  indicated  by  the  action  of 
drawing  a  cork  from  a  bottle,  effervescent  champagne  by  cutting  the  wires, 
and  coffee  by  the  imaginary  grinding  of  the  berry. 


COMPOUND  SIGNS.  61 

7.  The  place  where  the  object  is  to  be  found,  either  according  to  its  nature 
or  as  a  general  rule. 

Here  is  again  the  application  of  metonymy.  Example :  "  White," 
expressed  by  touching  the  teeth ;  "  black,"  the  hair  (which  nearly  always 
has  that  color  among  Indians) ;  "  red,"  the  lips  Articles  of  clothing  are 
similarly  indicated. 

8.  The  effect,  result,  influence,  and  moral  impression  of  the  olject. 

In  this  class  are  specially  comprised  the  substantives,  adjectives,  and 
verbs  which  express  the  dispositions  and  impressions  of  the  soul. 

The  Expressive  gesture  or  sign  dominates  here,  as  might  be  supposed. 
It  is  generally  the  effect  for  the  cause,  by  metonymy,  which  is  expressed. 
Among  the  signs  for  "good"  and  "bad,"  above  given,  are  several  examples. 

COMPOUND    SIGNS. 

Compound  signs  are  those  which  portray  several  sides,  features,  or 
qualities  of  the  object  designed.  They  are  generally  more  developed  than 
those  which  are  called  single,  although  they  also  can  be,  and  in  fact  often 
are,  abridged  in  practice. 

The  various  categories  of  compound  signs  may  be  reduced  to  certain 
heads,  forming  the  following  classes  : 

1.  Objects  that  are  represented  by  <i  generical  or  radical  indication,  with 
one  or  more  specific  marks.  Example  :  The  deaf-mute  sign  for  "  rich,"  which 
is  the  generic  sign  for  "  man  "  and  the  specific  sign  of  activity  in  counting 
out  money.  Under  this  class  are  arranged — 

(«.)  The  attributes,  either  adjective  or  participle,  employed  to  indicate 
state  or  parentage,  whether  the  generical  sign  is  expressed  or  understood. 
The  signs  for  "offspring"  and  "woman,"  given  above,  combined,  mean 
"  daughter." 

(i.)  The  designation  of  most  birds  and  many  animals.  Example:  The 
deaf-nmtes  for  "goose"  make  the  generic  sign  for  "bird,"  viz,  an  imitation 
of  flying,  and  add  that  of  a  waddling  walk. 

(c.)  The  designation  of  flowers  and  plants.  Example:  The  deaf-mutes 
gesture  "  rose"  by  the  sign  of  "flower,"  growing  from  the  fingers,  and  the 
action  of  smelling,  then  the  sign  for  "  red." 


G2  COMPOUND  SKINS. 

2.  Several  parts  or  specific,  marks.     "  Hail  "  is  sliown  by  the  sign  for 
"  white,"  then  its  falling  rapidly  from  above  and  striking  head,  arms,  £c., 
or  by  signs  for  "  rain  "  and  "  hard." 

3.  Orii/in  or  source,   and   use,    of  the   object  (for  the  object   itself,    by 
metonymy).     A  pen  would  once  have  been  understood  by  the  sign  for 
"  goose,"  before  mentioned,  followed  by  the  action  of  writing. 

4.  Effects  for  cauxcs  (also  by  metonymy).     For  "wind"  blow  with  the 
mouth  and  make  with  the  hands  the  motion  of  the  wind  in  a  determined 
direction. 

5.  Form  and  use. 

The  family  of  signs  composing  this  category  is  very  numerous.  The 
form  is  generally  traced  with  the  forefinger  of  the  right  hand  in  space,  or 
by  the  deaf-mutes  sometimes  upon  a  surface  represented  by  the  left  hand 
open  ;  but  the  lattor  device,  i.  e.,  of  using  the  left  hand  as  a  supposed  draft 
ing  surface,  has  not  been  reported  of  the  Indians.  The  use,  or  employment, 
is  expressed  by  the  position  of  the  hands  or  arms,  or  by  a  pantomimic 
movement  of  the  whole  body.  A  good  example  is  "  hospital,"  composed  of 
"house,"  "sick,"  and  "many." 

(i.  Outline  of  the  object  and  the  place  where  it  is  found.  Example:  The 
horns  drawn  from  the  head  in  one  of  the  signs  given  above  for  "  deer." 
(Titchkemdtski.) 

7.  Shape,  and  one  or  more  specific  marks.     Other  signs  given  for  "deer" 
may  be  instanced. 

8.  Wai)  of  using  and  specific  marks  of  the  object.     "Chalk"  would  be 
distinguished  from  "  pen,"  before  given,  by  the  sign  of  "  white,"  followed 
by  the  action  of  writing. 

U.  Shape,  mode  of  using,  and  specific  marks.  "Paper"  would  be 
shown  by  tracing  its  length  and  breadth,  if  necessary  by  the  motion  of 
folding,  succeeded  by  that  of  writing,  and,  to  make  it  still  more  distinct, 
by  "white." 

10.  End  for  which  an  object  is  used,  or  its  make,  and  the  place  ivherc  it  is 
found.     Example  :  "Sword,1'  by  drawing  from  a  supposed  sheath  and  strik 
ing;   and  "milk,"  by  signs  for  "white,"  "milking,"  and  "drinking." 

11.  Place  and  specific  mark.     The  deaf-mute  shows  "spider"  by  opening 


THE  PTUXCIPLK  OF  OPPOSITION.  63 

•» 

all  the  fingers  of  both  hands,  pointing1  with  the  left  hand  to  a  wall,  then  to 
a  corner  in  the  wall  shown  by  the  index  of  the  right. 

12.  Place,  manner  of  using,  or  mode-  of  arrangement.  The  pantomime  of 
putting  on  shoes  or  stockings  by  whites  or  moccasins  by  Indians  indicates 
those  articles. 

18.  Nef/atlon  of  the  reverse  of  what  it  is  desired  to  describe.  Examples  : 
"Fool — no,"  given  above,  would  be  "wise."  "Good — no,"  would  be  "bad." 
This  mode  of  expression  is  very  frequent,  and  has  led  observers  to  report 
the  absence  of  positive  signs  for  the  ideas  negatived,  with  sometimes  as  lit 
tle  propriety  as  if  when  an  ordinary  speaker  chose  to  use  the  negative  form 
"not  good,"  it  should  be  inferred  that  he  was  ignorant  of  the  word  "  bad." 

14.  Attenuation  or  diminution  of  an  object  stroiif/cr  or  f/rcatcr  than  that 
which  it  is  desired  to  represent,  and  the  converse.  Dampwould  be  "wet — little"; 
cool,  "cold — little";  hot,  "warm — much."  In  this  connection  it  may  be 
noted  that  the  degree  of  motion  sometimes  indicates  a  different  shade  of 
meaning,  of  which  the  graduation  of  the  signs  for  "bad"  and  "contempt" 
(Matthews}  is  an  instance,  but  is  more  frequently  used  for  emphasis,  as  is 
the  raising  of  the  voice  in  speech  or  italicizing  and  capitalizing  in  print. 
The  meaning  of  the  same  motion  is  often  modified,  individualized,  or  accen 
tuated  by  associated  facial  changes  and  postures  of  the  body  not  essential 
to  the  sign,  which  emotional  changes  and  postures  are  at  once  the  most 
difiicult  to  describe  and  the  most  interesting  when  intelligently  reported, 
not  only  because  they  infuse  life  into  the  skeleton  sign,  but  because  they 
mav  belong  to  the  class  of  innate  expressions.  Facial  variations  are  not 
confined  to  use  in  distinguishing  synonyms,  but  amazing  successes  have 
been  recorded  in  which  long  narratives  have  been  communicated  between 
deaf-mutes  wholly  by  play  of  the  features,  the  hands  and  arms  being  tied 
for  the  experiment. 

There  remains  to  be  mentioned  as  worthy  of  attention  the  principle  of 
opposition,  as  between  the  right  and  left  hands,  and  between  the  thumb  and 
forefinger  and  the  little  finger,  which  appears  among  Indians  in  some 
expressions  for  "above,"  "below,"  "forward,"  "back,"  but  is  not  so  com 
mon  as  among  the  methodical,  distinguished  from  the  natural,  signs  of  deaf- 
mutes.  This  principle  is  illustrated  by  the  following  remarks  of  Col.  DODGE, 


04  DESCRIPTION  AND  ILLUSTRATION. 

» 

which  also  bear  upon  the  subdivision  last  above  mentioned:  "Above"  is 
indicated  by  holding  the  left  hand  horizontal,  and  in  front  of  the  body, 
fingers  open,  but  joined  together,  palm  upward.  The  right  hand  is  then 
placed  horizontal,  fingers  open  but  joined,  palm  downward,  an  inch  or  more 
above  the  left,  and  raised  and  lowered  a  few  inches  several  times,  the  left 
hand  being  perfectly  still.  If  the  thing  indicated  as  "above"  is  only  a  UttJe 
above,  this  concludes  the  sign,  but  if  it  be  considerably  above,  the  right 
hand  is  raised  higher  and  higher  as  the  height  to  be  expressed  is  greater, 
until,  if  enormously  above,  the  Indian  will  raise  his  right  hand  as  high  as 
possible,  and,  fixing  his  eyes  on  the  zenith,  emit  a  duplicate  grunt,  the  more 
prolonged  as  he  desires  to  express  the  greater  height.  All  this  time  the  left 
hand  is  held  perfectly  motionless.  "  Below"  is  exactly  the  same,  except 
that  all  movement  is  made  by  the  left  or  lower  hand,  the  right  being  held 
motionless,  palm  downward,  and  the  eyes  looking  down. 

The  code  of  the  Cistercian  monks  was  based  in  large  part  on  a  system 
of  opposition  which  would  more  likely  be  wrought  out  by  an  intentional 
process  of  invention  than  by  spontaneous  figuration,  and  is  rather  of  mne 
monic  than  suggestive  value  They  made  two  fingers  at  the  right  side  of 
the  nose  stand  for  "friend,"  and  the  same  at  the  left  side  for  "enemy,"  by 
some  fanciful  connection  with  right  and  wrong,  and  placed  the  little  finger 
on  the  tip  of  the  nose  for  "fool"  merely  because  it  had  been  decided  to  put 
the  forefinger  there  for  "wise  man." 

DETAILS    OF    DK-CKIPT1OX    AND    ILLUSTRATION. 

The  signs  of  the  Indians  appear  to  consist  of  motions  rather  than  posi 
tions — a  fact  enhancing  the  difficulty  both  of  their  description  and  illustra 
tion — and  the  motions  are  generally  large  and  free,  seldom  minute.  It 
seems  also  to  be  the  general  rule  among  Indians  as  among  deaf-mutes  that 
the  point  of  the  finger  is  used  to  trace  outlines  and  the  palm  of  the  hand 
to  describe  surfaces.  From  an  examination  of  the  identical  signs  made  for 
the  same  object  by  Indians  of  the  same  tribe  and  band  to  each  other,  they 
appear  to  make  most  gestures  with  little  regard  to  the  position  of  the  fingers 
and  to  vary  in  such  arrangement  from  individual  taste.  Some  of  the  elab 
orate  descriptions,  giving  with  great  detail  the  attitude  of  the  fingers  of  any 


REMARKS  ON  LIST  OF  SIGNS  DESIRED.  65 

particular  gesturer  and  the  inches  traced  by  his  motions,  are  of  as  little 
necessity  as  would  be. a  careful  reproduction  of  (he  flourishes  of  tailed  let 
ters  and    the    thickness  of  down-strokes  in  individual    chirography  when 
quoting  a  written  word.     The  fingers  must  be  in  some  position,  but  that  is 
frequently  accidental,  not  contributing  to  the  general  and  essential  effect, 
and  there  is  a  custom  or  "fashion"  in  which  not  only  different  tribes,  but 
different  persons  in  the  same    tribe    gesture  the  same  sign  with  different 
degrees  of  beauty,  for  there  is   calligraphy  in  sign-language,  though  no 
recognized  orthography.     It  is  nevertheless  better  to  describe  and  illustrate 
with  unnecessary  minuteness  than  to  fail  in  reporting  a  real  differentiation. 
There   are,   also,   in  fact,  many  signs  formed    by  mere    positions  of  the 
fingers,  some  of  which  are  abbreviations,  but  in  others  the  arrangement 
of  the  fingers  in  itself  forms  a  picture.     An  instance  of  the  latter  is  one 
of  the  signs  given  for  the  "  bear,"  viz,  middle  and  third  finger  of  right  hand 
clasped  down  by  the  thumb,  fore  and  little  finger  extended  crooked  down 
ward.  (TitchkemdtsJii.^    This  reproduction  of  the  animal's  peculiar  claws,  with 
the  hand  in   any  position  relative   to   the   body,  would  suffice  without  the 
pantomime  of  scratching  in  the  air,  which  is  added  only  if  it  should  not  be 
at  once  comprehended.     In  order  to  provide  for  such  cases  of  minute  rep 
resentation  a  sheet  of  "  TYPKS  OF  HAND  POSITIONS  "  has  been  prepared, 
and  if  none  of  them  exactly  correspond  to  a  sign  observed,  the  one  most 
nearly  corresponding  can  be  readily  altered  by  a  few  strokes  of  pen  or 
pencil.     The  sheet  of  "  OUTLINES  OF  ARM  POSITIONS,"  giving  front  and  side 
figures  with  arms  pendent,  is  also  presented  as  a  labor-saving  device.     The 
directions  upon  these  sheets  as  illustrated  by  the  sheet  of  "EXAMPLES," 
which  concludes  this  pamphlet,  are,  it  is  hoped,  sufficiently  ample  to  show 
their  proposed  use,  and  copies  of  them,  to  any  requisite  number,  will  cheer 
fully  be  mailed,  together  with  official  stamps  for  return  postage  on  contribu 
tions,  by  application  to  the  address  given  below. 

LIST  OF  SIGNS  DESIRED. 

The  following  is  a  condensed  list,  prepared  for  the  use  of  observers,  of 
the  headings  under  which  the  gesture-signs  of  the  North  American  Indians 
have  been  collated  for  comparison  with  each  oi.her  and  with  those  of  deaf- 

5   S   L 


6(5  LIST  OF  SIGNS  DESIRED. 

mutes  and  of  foreign  tribes  of  men,  and  not  intended  to  be  translated  into  a 
mere  vocabulary,  the  nature  of  the  elementary  principles  governing  the 
combinations  in  the  two  modes  of  expression  being  diverse.  Many  syno 
nyms  have  been  omitted  which  will  readily  fall  into  place  when  a  sign  for 
them  may  be  noticed,  and  it  is  probable  that  many  of  them,  depending  upon 
the  context  and  upon  facial  expression  will  be  separately  distinguished  only 
with  great  difficulty.  Even  when  the  specific  practice  of  the  sign-language 
has  been  discontinued,  the  gesture  formerly  used  for  a  sign  as  substitute 
for  words  may  survive  as  a  customary  accompaniment  to  oratory  or  impas 
sioned  conversation,  therefore  should  be  noted.  The  asterisk  prefixed  to 
some  of  the  words  indicates  those  for  which  the  signs  or  gestures  made  are 
specially  desired — in  some  cases  for  their  supposed  intrinsic  value,  and  in 
others  on  account  of  the  incompleteness  of  their  description  as  yet  obtained, 
but  it  is  not  intended  that  signs  corresponding  with  the  words  without  an 
asterisk  will  not  be  welcomed.  Observers  should  only  regard  this  list  as 
suggestive,  and  it  is  hoped,  will  add  all  signs  that  may  be  considered  by 
them  to  be  of  interest.  Those  for  many  animals  and  utensils,  weapons, 
articles  of  clothing,  and  similar  common  objects,  have  been  omitted  from 
the  list  because  the  number  of  them  of  a  merely  configurative  or  pan 
tomimic  character  in  the  present  collection  was  sufficient  in  comparison 
with  their  value,  but  when  any  distinct  conception  for  them  in  signs  is 
remarked  it  should  be  contributed. 

Printed  forms  and  outlines  similar  to  those  shown  at  the  end  of  this 
pamphlet,  prepared  to  diminish  the  labor  of  description  and  illustration, 
will  be  furnished  on  request  mailed  to 

COL.  GAKRICK  MALLERY,  U.S.A., 
Bureau  of  Ethnology,  Smithsonian  Institution, 

P.  0.  Box  585,  Washington,  D.  C. 


*  Above.  Arrow,  To  hit  with  an.  *  Before. 

Add,  To;  more.  Autumn,  fall.  *  Beginning;      commence- 

Admiration.  Battle.  merit. 

Anger.  Bear.  *  Behind. 

Arrow.  Beaver.  *  Below;  under. 


LIST  OF  SIGNS  DESIRED. 


67 


Big. 

Bison,  (butl'alo.) 

Black. 

Blue. 

Boat,  canoe. 

Bow,  weapon. 

Brave. 

Break,  broken. 

Bring  to  me;  or  to  us. 

Broad. 

Brother. 

Capture,  To. 

Chief. 

,  War. 

Child ;  baby,  infant. 

— ,  offspring. 
Clear. 
Clothing;    buffalo-robe   or 

skin. 

— ,  woolen  blanket. 
Cloud. 

Cold ;  it  is  cold. 
Conic;  arrive;  coining. 

come  back. 

come  here. 

Companion. 

*  Comparison;  more,  most. 

*  Contempt. 
Content,  satisfaction. 

*  Cross;  sulky. 

*  Danger. 
Daughter. 
Day. 

to-day. 

to-morrow. 

yesterday. 

Dead ;  death. 
Deer. 

*  Defiance. 

*  Destroyed,  ruined. 

*  Different,  contrasted. 
Discontent,  dissatisfaction. 

*  Disgust. 
Dog. 

Drink;  drinking. 
Earth,  ground. 


East. 

End,  done. 

Enough.  , 

Equal. 

Exchange. 

Fail,  To. 

Far. 

Fat,  of  a  person. 

Fat,  of  meat. 

Fear. 

— ,  a  coward;  cowardice. 
Female,  applied  to  animals. 
Fight. 
Fire,  llame. 
Flat. 
Flour. 
Fly,  To. 
Fool,  foolish. 
Forest. 

*  Forever,  always. 
Forget ;  forgotten. 
Found ;  discovered. 
Friend. 

Frost. 

Full,  as  a  box  or  sack. 

*  Future,  to  come  (in  time). 
Gap;  canon. 
•Generous. 

Girl. 

Give,  to  me  or  to  us. 
Glad;  joy. 
Go ;  go  away. 
God. 
Good. 

*Gone;  departed. 
— ,  lost,  spent. 
Grandmother. 
Grass. 

*  Gray. 
Grease. 
Great, 
Green. 

*  Grief,  sorrow. 
*Grow,  To. 
Gun. 

,  To  hit  with  a. 


Gun  shot. 

Hair. 

Halt! 

*  Halt;  a  stopping-place. 
Hard. 

*  I  late. 

He;  another  person;  they. 

Hear,  heard. 

Heavy. 

*  Help,  To;  to  assist. 
*Here. 

Hide;  to  conceal;  secret. 

High;  as  a  hill. 

Hill. 

*  Honest. 

*  Horror. 

*  Humble,  humility. 
Hunting,  for  game. 
Husband. 

I;  personal  pronoun. 
Ice. 

*  Imprudent,  rash. 
*In;  within. 
Indecision,  doubt. 
Kill,  killing. 
Kind. 

Know,  To. 
I  know. 

-  I  do  not  know. 
Lance;  spear. 
Large,  great  in  extent. 

-  in  quantity. 

*  Leaves,  of  a  tree. 
Lie,  falsehood. 
Lie,  down. 
Light,  daylight. 

-  in  weight. 
Lightning. 
Listen,  To. 

Little;  small  in  quantity. 

,  in  size. 

Lodge;  tepee;  wigwam. 

Entering  a. 

Long,  in  extent  of  surface. 

in  lapse  of  time. 

Look!     See! 


68 


LIST  OF  SIGNS  DESIRED. 


Look,  To. 

Love,  affection. 

Male,  applied  to  animals. 

Man. 

Many. 

Marching,  traveling'. 

*  Medicine-man,  Shaman. 
Medicine  in  Indian  sense. 
31  i lie;  my  property, 
^fooii,  month. 
Mortiing. 

Mother. 

Mountain. 

Much. 

Near. 

Negro. 

Night. 

No,  negative. 

None;  I  have  none. 

Nothing. 

Now. 

Number;  quantity. 

Obtain. 

Old. 

Opposite. 

Out;  outward;  without  (in 

position). 
Paint, 
Parent. 

*Past;  over  (in  time). 
Patience. 
Peace. 
Pistol. 
Poor,  lean. 

* ,  indigent. 

Prairie. 
Prayer. 
Pretty;  handsome. 

*  Pride. 
Prisoner. 

— ,  To  take. 

Property;  possession;  have; 
belong. 

*  Prudent,  cautious. 
Question;  inquiry;  what? 
Rain. 

Red. 


Repeat,  often. 

Retreat ;    return    through 

fear. 
Ridge. 
River. 

Rocky,  as  a  hill. 
Run;  running. 
Same,  similar. 
Seal]). 

Search,  to  seek  for. 
See,  To;  seeing. 
Seen. 

*  Shame;  ashamed. 

*  Short,  in  extent. 

*  Short,  in  time. 
Sick,  ill. 

Sing. 
Sister. 
Sit  down. 

*  Slave,  servant. 
Sleep. 

Slow. 

Small. 

Snow. 

Soft. 

Son. 

Sour. 

Speak,  To. 

*  Spring  (season). 
Steamboat. 

*  Stingy. 
Stone. 
Storm. 
Strong,  strength. 

*  Submission. 

*  Summer. 
Sun. 
Sunrise. 
Sunset. 
Surprise. 
Surrender. 
Surround. 
Sweet. 
Swift. 

Talk,  conversation. 

*Time. 

Taste. 


Think. 
Thunder. 

Time  of  day ;  hour. 
—  a  long  time. 

* a.  short  time. 

Tired,  weary. 

Told  me,  A  person. 

Tomahawk;  ax. 

Trade,  barter,  buy. 

Travel,  To. 

•Tree. 

True,  It  is. 

Truth. 

*Try,  To;  to  attempt. 

Understand. 

Understand,  Do  not. 

*Vain,  vanity. 

*  Village,  Indian. 

* ,  White  man's 

War. 

War,  To  declare. 

Water. 

*  Well,  in  health. 
When? 
Whence? 
Where? 
White. 

White  man ;  American. 
Wicked ;  bad  heart. 
Wide,  in  extent. 
Wife. 

*  Wild. 

Wind,  air  in  motion. 

*  Winter. 

*  Wise ;  respected  for  wis 

dom. 

*  Wish ;  desire  for. 
Without;  deprivation. 
Woman;  squaw. 
Wonder. 

Work,  To;  to  perform. 

Year. 

•Yellow. 

Yes,  affirmation. 

You. 


OUTLINES  FOR  ARM  POSITIONS  IN  GESTURE-LANGUAGE. 


t'N-1  VKKS  I 


N.  B. — The  gestures,  to  be  indicated  by  corrected  positions  of  arms  and  by  dotted  lines  showing  the 
motion  from  the  initial  to  the  final  positions  (which  are  severally  marked  by  an  arrow-head  and  a  cross — 
see  sheet  of  EXAMPLES),  will  be  always  shown  as  they  appear  to  an  observer  facing  the  gesturer,  the 
front  or  side  outline,  or  both,  being  used  as  most  convenient.  The  special  positions  of  hands  and  fingers 
will  bo  designated  by  reference  to  the  "TYPES  OF  HAND  POSITIONS."  For  brevity  in  the  written  descrip 
tion,  "hand"  may  bo  used  for  "right  hand,"  when  that  one  alone  is  employed  in  any  particular  ges 
ture.  In  cases  where  the  conception  or  origin  of  any  sign  is  not  obvious,  if  it  can  bo  ascertained  or 
suggested,  a  note  of  that  added  to  the  description  would  be  highly  acceptable.  Associated  facial  expres 
sion  or  bodily  posture  which  may  accentuate  or  qualify  a  gesture  is  necessarily  left  to  the  ingenuity  of 
the  contributor. 


Word  or  Idea  expressed  by  Sign : 

DESCRIPTION: 


CONCEPTION  OR  ORIGIN: 


Tribe: 

Locality : 


Observer. 


TYPES  OF  HAND  POSITIONS  IN  GESTURE-LANGUAGE. 


, 


A — Fiat,  palm  outward,   buii- 
zontal. 


B  — Fist,  hark  outward,  oli-    C — Clinched,  with  thumb  ex- 
lique  upward,  tendril  against  forefinger, 

upright,  edge  outward. 


1>— Clim-hi-d,  ball  of  thumb 
against  middlo  of  fore- 
linger,  oblique,  upward, 
palm  down. 


Hooki-d,  tliumb  against    F— Hooked,  thumb  against    G  —  Fingers  resting  against     H— Arched,  thumb  horizontal 
end  of  forefinger,  upright,  side  uf  forefinger,  oblique,  ball  of  thumb,  back  up-  against  end  of  ibiviiugcr, 

edge  outward.  palm  outward.  ward.  back  upward. 


I — Closed,  except  forefinger  J — Forefinger  straight,  up-  K — Forefinger  obliquely  ex-  L — Thumb  vertical,  forefin- 

crooked    against    end    of  right,  others  closed,    edgo  tended   upward,   others  gor  horizontal,  others 

thumb,  upright,  palm  out-  outward.  closed,  edge  outward.  closed,  edge  outward. 
ward. 


— Forefinger  horizontal,  tin-    X — First   and  second  fingers    O — Thumb,  first  and  second      P — Fingers  and    thumb  pnr 


grrs  and    thumb  closed, 
palm  outward. 


70 


straight  upward  ami  sep 
arated,  remaining  fingers 
and  thumb  closed,  palm 
out  waul. 


fingers  separated,  straight 
upward,  remaining  fin 
gers  cturvcd  edge  oiit- 

wanl. 


tially  curved  upward  and 
separated,  knuckles  out 
ward. 


TYPES  OF  HANI)  POSITIONS  JN  GESTURE-LANGUAGE. 


71 


Q — Finders  and  thumb  sop-    K — Finders    ami    thuml)    c.x-    S — Hand  ami  fingers  upright, 
arat«-d,     .slightly  curved,  tended   straight,    sepii-  joined,  back  outward, 

downward.  rated,  upward. 


T— JTaiid  and  fingers  upright, 
joined,  palm  outward. 


U— Fin<rers  collected  to  .a  point, 
thumb  rcstiuir  in  middle. 


V—  Arched,  joined,  thumb  resting 
near  end  of  forelin^er,  down- 
word. 


"W  —  Hand  horizontal,  flat,   palm 
downward. 


X — Hand  hori/.ontal,   flat,   palm 
upward. 


Y- — Naturally  relaxed,  normal; 
used  when  hand  simply  fol 
lows  arm  with  110  hiteutioual 
disposition. 


N.  B. — The  positions  arc  given  as  they  appear  to  an  observer  facing  the  gesturcr,  anil  are  designed 
to  .show  the  relations  of  tlie  fingers  to  the  hand  rather  than  the  positions  of  the  hand  relative  to  tho 
body,  which  must  be  shown  by  the  outlines  (see  sheet  of  "  OUTLINES  OF  ARM  POSITIONS")  or  descrip 
tion.  The  right  and  left  hands  are  figured  above  without  discrimination,  but  in  description  or  refer 
ence  tho  right  hand  will  be  understood  when  tho  left  is  not  specified.  The  hands  as  figured  can  also 
with  proper  intimation  bo  applied  with  changes  either  upward,  downward,  or  inclined  to  cither  side, 
so  long  as  the  relative  positions  of  the  fingers  are  retained,  and  when  in  that  respect  no  one  of  the  types 
exactly  corresponds  with  a  sign  observed,  modifications  will  be  made  by  pen  or  pencil  on  that  one  of 
the  types  found  most  convenient,  as  indicated  in  the  sheet  of  "  EXAMPLKS,"  and  referred  to  by  the  letter 
of  the  alphabet  under  the  typo  changed,  with  tho  addition  of  a  numeral — e.  g.,  A  1,  and  if  that  type,  i.  c. 
A,  were  changed  a  second  time  by  the  observer  (which  change  would  necessarily  be  drawn  on  another 
sheet  of  types),  it  should  be  referred  to  as  A  2. 


EXAMPLES. 


Word  or  idea  expressed  by  sign :  To  cut,  with  an  ax. 
DESCRIPTION: 

With  the  right  hand  flattened  (X  changed  to  right  instead  of  left),  palm 
*.'**+•  upward,  move  it  downward  to  the  left  side  repeatedly  from  different  eleva 
tions,  ending  caeh  stroke  at  the  same  point. 

Conception  or  origin:  From  the  act  of  felling  a  tree. 


Word  or  idea  expressed  by  sign :  A  lie. 

DESCRIPTION : 

Touch  the.  left  breast  over  the  heart,  and  pass  the 
hand  forward  from  the  mouth,  the  two  first  fingers  only 
bcingextended  and  slightly  separated(L,l— with  thumb 
resting  on  third  linger). 

Conception  or  origin:  Double-tongued. 


Word  or  idea  expressed  by  sign:  To  ride. 

DESCRIPTION : 

Place  the  first  two  fingers  of  the  right  hand,  thumb  extended 
(N,  1)  downward,  astraddle  the  iirst  two  joined  and  straight  fingers  of 
the  left  (T,  1),  sidewise,  to  the  right,  then  make  several  short  arched 
movements  forward  with  hands  so  joined. 

Conception  or  origin:    The  horse,    mounted    and  in 
motion. 


N,  1. 


T,  1. 

Dotted  lines  indicate  movements  to  place  the  hand  and  arm  in  position  to  commence 
the  sign  and  not  forming  part  of  it. 

Indicates  commencement  of  movement  in  representing  sign,  or  part  of  sign. 

Dashes  indicate  the  course  of  hand  employed  in  the  sign. 

Represents  the  termination  of  movements. 

Used  in  connection  with  dashes,  shows  the  course  of  the  latter  when  not  otherwise 
clearly  intelligible. 


RETURN 
TO- 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 


DUJ 

\  18  199/ 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 
- — 


DEC 


FORM  NO.  DD  19 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


<r\ 


